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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: wound · ground · pop · racket · patient · march · tear · squash

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. tear — to rip
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. ground — a position
  7. ground — the earth
  8. march — music
  9. march — the month
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. pop — music
  12. march — the month
  13. ground — crushed
  14. tear — from crying
  15. wound — an injury
  16. tear — from crying
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. wound — an injury
  19. pop — soda
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. squash — the sport
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. squash — to crush

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