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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. drill — a practice
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. march — the month
  6. wake — a trail
  7. row — to paddle
  8. drill — army training
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. march — music
  12. content — the amount
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. march — the month
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cold — an illness
  18. content — happy
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. cold — not warm
  21. row — a line
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. fork — in a road

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