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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wound · wind · fine · ground · mate · club · march · pitcher

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. ground — a position
  3. mate — a partner
  4. club — a group
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. mate — to breed
  7. club — for dancing
  8. march — the month
  9. fine — all right
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. mate — a friend
  12. wind — moving air
  13. ground — crushed
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wind — moving air
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. march — music
  22. ground — the earth
  23. club — for golf
  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