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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. march — the month
  3. spell — a short time
  4. fork — in a road
  5. bat — the animal
  6. row — a line
  7. field — a subject
  8. branch — a division
  9. spell — magic
  10. field — farmland
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. row — to paddle
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. cell — in biology
  18. spell — letters
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. field — for sport
  21. cell — a phone
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. march — the month

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