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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: wind · drill · bound · date · branch · march · ground · cell

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. ground — crushed
  3. wind — moving air
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. ground — a position
  7. bound — certain
  8. ground — the earth
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. branch — a division
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. drill — army training
  14. cell — in biology
  15. bound — tied together
  16. wind — moving air
  17. march — the month
  18. bound — obliged
  19. march — the month
  20. date — the fruit
  21. drill — a practice
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. drill — the tool
  24. cell — a phone

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