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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. pop — music
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. present — there
  7. present — the time now
  8. mine — for digging
  9. pop — soda
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. band — a music group
  12. march — the month
  13. march — music
  14. cold — an illness
  15. ground — the earth
  16. ground — a position
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. march — the month
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. band — a ring
  21. pop — to visit
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. cold — not warm
  24. present — a gift

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