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

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. clip — a video
  3. court — of law
  4. net — after costs
  5. drill — the tool
  6. march — music
  7. drill — army training
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. march — the month
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. fork — in a road
  12. drill — a practice
  13. clip — for paper
  14. net — for catching
  15. court — of a king
  16. net — in sport
  17. court — for sport
  18. pit — a hole
  19. root — of a word
  20. root — of a plant
  21. clip — to cut
  22. root — the cause
  23. pit — in a race
  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