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

Word bank: march · content · pit · drill · ground · mate · deal · file

  1. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. ground — crushed
  3. march — the month
  4. file — a tool
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. drill — the tool
  7. content — the amount
  8. file — a line of people
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. file — a document
  11. mate — to breed
  12. pit — in a race
  13. march — the month
  14. content — happy
  15. ground — a position
  16. drill — a practice
  17. mate — a friend
  18. march — music
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. deal — to handle
  21. mate — a partner
  22. drill — army training
  23. ground — the earth
  24. pit — a hole

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