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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 president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. ground — crushed
  3. march — the month
  4. bat — the animal
  5. scale — in music
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. march — the month
  8. squash — the sport
  9. fork — in a road
  10. march — music
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. ground — a position
  14. scale — size or range
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. shower — to wash
  19. shower — rain
  20. ground — the earth
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. mouse — for a computer

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