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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fork · clip · content · shower · bear · field

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bear — the animal
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. fork — in a road
  7. content — happy
  8. clip — a video
  9. shower — rain
  10. clip — for paper
  11. field — a subject
  12. bear — the animal
  13. field — farmland
  14. clip — to cut
  15. content — the amount
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. field — for sport

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