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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. row — a line
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. tube — a container
  6. march — the month
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. row — to paddle
  10. march — music
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. march — the month
  13. spring — the season
  14. spring — of water
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. tube — the underground
  18. wound — an injury
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. mark — a trace
  21. spring — a coil
  22. mark — a grade
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. tube — in a tire

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