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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: rock · deal · last · ground · march · shower · rest · wind

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. ground — a position
  4. last — final
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. march — the month
  7. ground — crushed
  8. deal — to handle
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. ground — the earth
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. rest — a break
  13. shower — rain
  14. march — the month
  15. wind — moving air
  16. shower — to wash
  17. last — finally
  18. rest — what's left
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. rest — what's left
  21. march — music
  22. wind — moving air
  23. last — to go on
  24. rock — a stone

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