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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. last — to go on
  4. hand — help
  5. mate — to breed
  6. march — the month
  7. wound — an injury
  8. shower — rain
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. mate — a partner
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. last — finally
  14. mate — a friend
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — farmland
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. shower — to wash
  20. march — the month
  21. last — final
  22. wound — an injury
  23. field — a subject
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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