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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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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. clip — for paper
  3. hand — help
  4. march — the month
  5. key — the most important part
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. field — farmland
  10. kick — in football
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. hand — in cards
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — a video
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. field — for sport
  17. march — the month
  18. key — for a lock
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. field — a subject
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. key — in 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