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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. track — to keep track
  3. face — to point toward
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. wound — an injury
  6. march — the month
  7. ground — crushed
  8. spring — the season
  9. kid — to tease
  10. track — a song
  11. wound — an injury
  12. march — the month
  13. kid — child
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. ground — the earth
  16. ground — a position
  17. face — to confront
  18. spring — of water
  19. track — a path
  20. spring — a coil
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. face — part of the head

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