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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  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. wound — an injury
  3. spell — letters
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. mark — a grade
  7. band — a ring
  8. tube — the underground
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. tear — to rip
  11. march — the month
  12. mark — a trace
  13. band — a music group
  14. fall — the season
  15. wound — an injury
  16. fall — to drop
  17. spell — magic
  18. fall — to drop
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tube — a container
  21. march — the month
  22. tear — from crying
  23. spell — a short time
  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