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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: bat · wound · march · rash · bowl · wake · fork · tear

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. wake — a trail
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. tear — from crying
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. tear — from crying
  9. march — music
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. fork — in a road
  13. march — the month
  14. tear — to rip
  15. wound — an injury
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. march — the month
  20. wound — an injury
  21. rash — a series
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. fork — a garden tool

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