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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. march — the month
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. wind — moving air
  7. ground — a position
  8. drill — army training
  9. ground — the earth
  10. rash — hasty
  11. rash — a series
  12. bound — tied together
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. drill — a practice
  17. row — a line
  18. drill — the tool
  19. row — to paddle
  20. march — music
  21. ground — crushed
  22. bound — obliged
  23. march — the month
  24. wind — moving air

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