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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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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: date · fork · cell · march · face · kid

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. march — music
  5. face — to point toward
  6. march — the month
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. date — the fruit
  9. kid — to tease
  10. face — to confront
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in biology
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. face — part of the head
  15. fork — in a road
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. kid — child

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