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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: march · ground · tear · wound · pop · scale · last · season

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. season — in sport
  4. pop — to visit
  5. wound — an injury
  6. march — the month
  7. ground — the earth
  8. tear — from crying
  9. scale — size or range
  10. ground — a position
  11. pop — music
  12. last — to go on
  13. pop — soda
  14. wound — an injury
  15. ground — crushed
  16. march — the month
  17. last — final
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. scale — in music
  20. season — of the year
  21. tear — to rip
  22. tear — from crying
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. last — finally

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