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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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468
Word bank
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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. cell — in biology
  4. fork — in a road
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. march — the month
  8. march — the month
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — after costs
  11. content — the amount
  12. content — happy
  13. cell — a phone
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. net — in sport
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bark — to shout
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. club — for golf
  22. march — music
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. club — for dancing

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