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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: mate · race · wound · row · march · face · fork · key

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. row — a line
  3. key — in music
  4. mate — to breed
  5. key — for a lock
  6. mate — a friend
  7. fork — in a road
  8. race — a contest
  9. row — to paddle
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. face — to point toward
  13. march — the month
  14. mate — a partner
  15. march — music
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. face — to confront
  18. wound — an injury
  19. race — the arms race
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. march — the month
  22. face — part of the head
  23. key — the most important part
  24. race — humankind

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