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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — an injury
  4. craft — boats
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. field — farmland
  7. march — the month
  8. march — music
  9. drill — army training
  10. drill — a practice
  11. ground — a position
  12. march — the month
  13. rule — a law
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. drill — the tool
  16. land — ground
  17. field — for sport
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. rule — government
  20. craft — a skill
  21. land — to come down
  22. land — a country
  23. field — a subject
  24. ground — the earth

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com