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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. march — the month
  5. march — music
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. fork — in a road
  9. field — a subject
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. cue — a hint
  13. field — farmland
  14. content — happy
  15. march — the month
  16. cue — for pool
  17. deal — to handle
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. content — the amount
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. field — for sport
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. deal — a big deal

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