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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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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: pitcher · march · last · land · drill · cap · shower · row

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. march — the month
  3. row — a line
  4. cap — a lid
  5. land — ground
  6. land — a country
  7. cap — a hat
  8. drill — a practice
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. march — music
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cap — of ice
  13. drill — army training
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. last — finally
  17. shower — to wash
  18. drill — the tool
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. land — to come down
  21. last — final
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — rain
  24. march — the month

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