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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 120 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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. wound — an injury
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. hand — help
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bat — the animal
  9. hand — in cards
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. branch — a division
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. dip — to sink
  15. march — the month
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. wound — an injury
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. march — the month
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. straw — a straw man

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