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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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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: drill · chest · rush · wound · march · wake · stock · last

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. march — the month
  3. last — final
  4. wake — a trail
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. drill — the tool
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. last — finally
  10. march — music
  11. last — to go on
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. march — the month
  16. stock — shares
  17. drill — a practice
  18. stock — goods
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. rush — hurry
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chest — a box
  24. drill — army training

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