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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. march — music
  3. hand — help
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. last — finally
  6. last — to go on
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. tear — from crying
  10. fine — all right
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. tear — from crying
  15. hand — in cards
  16. last — final
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. prune — to trim
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. prune — to trim
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. march — the month
  23. tear — to rip
  24. march — the month

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