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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 116 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. pop — soda
  3. march — the month
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — from crying
  6. march — music
  7. bound — tied together
  8. bound — certain
  9. drill — a practice
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. pop — to visit
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. land — to come down
  14. drill — the tool
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. land — ground
  17. drill — army training
  18. kid — to tease
  19. pop — music
  20. land — a country
  21. kid — child
  22. tear — to rip
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. bound — obliged

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