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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 · march · wake · fan · last · content · pitcher · present

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. last — final
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. last — finally
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. present — a gift
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. wake — a trail
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. wound — an injury
  13. march — the month
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. present — there
  18. wound — an injury
  19. march — the month
  20. last — to go on
  21. content — happy
  22. present — the time now
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. content — the amount

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