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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: wound · mine · mate · pitcher · squash · march · band · last

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. band — a ring
  4. last — final
  5. mate — a friend
  6. squash — to crush
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. mate — to breed
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. mate — a partner
  11. squash — the sport
  12. last — to go on
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. band — a music group
  15. wound — an injury
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. march — the month
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. march — music
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. wound — an injury
  23. march — the month
  24. mine — for digging

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