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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: march · ball · bat · wound · deal · last · file · row

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. last — final
  4. file — a document
  5. file — a tool
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. march — the month
  9. march — the month
  10. last — finally
  11. deal — to handle
  12. wound — an injury
  13. row — to paddle
  14. row — a line
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. bat — the animal
  17. ball — a great time
  18. ball — a dance
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. wound — an injury
  24. march — music

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