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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. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. ground — crushed
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. march — the month
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. file — a tool
  9. march — the month
  10. ground — a position
  11. wound — an injury
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — money
  14. file — a line of people
  15. ground — the earth
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. file — a document
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. capital — a city
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. stem — to come from
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. march — music

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