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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. mate — to breed
  5. chip — to eat
  6. bark — to shout
  7. march — the month
  8. mate — a friend
  9. march — music
  10. march — the month
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. chip — for betting
  13. season — of the year
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a document
  17. mate — a partner
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. file — a line of people
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. fork — in a road
  23. wound — an injury
  24. season — in sport

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