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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. branch — a division
  3. march — music
  4. last — to go on
  5. bound — obliged
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. bound — tied together
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. wake — a trail
  11. drill — the tool
  12. last — final
  13. march — the month
  14. cold — an illness
  15. mine — for digging
  16. drill — a practice
  17. march — the month
  18. drill — army training
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. cold — not warm
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. bound — certain

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