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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. land — a country
  3. pop — music
  4. pop — soda
  5. wound — an injury
  6. march — the month
  7. file — a tool
  8. march — music
  9. land — to come down
  10. file — a document
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. land — ground
  13. wound — an injury
  14. file — a line of people
  15. march — the month
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. rock — a stone
  20. branch — a division
  21. pop — to visit
  22. rock — music
  23. ground — the earth
  24. ground — a position

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