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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 116 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: march · tube · ground · bat · row · court · hand · wound

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. ground — crushed
  3. court — of a king
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — a container
  6. hand — in cards
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wound — an injury
  9. ground — a position
  10. march — music
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. court — of law
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — the animal
  15. march — the month
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. row — to paddle
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. wound — an injury
  20. march — the month
  21. hand — help
  22. court — for sport
  23. row — a line
  24. bat — in an idiom

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