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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 120 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: chair · march · wind · file · last · rule · ground · wake

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — to go on
  3. ground — a position
  4. file — a tool
  5. last — finally
  6. file — a line of people
  7. march — music
  8. wake — a trail
  9. ground — the earth
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. ground — crushed
  14. march — the month
  15. rule — government
  16. file — a document
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. wind — moving air
  19. rule — a law
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. march — the month
  22. wind — moving air
  23. chair — a leader
  24. wind — to turn a key

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