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

Word bank: chair · race · fork · chest · march · net

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. net — in sport
  3. march — the month
  4. chest — of your body
  5. march — music
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. race — a contest
  11. chair — a leader
  12. net — after costs
  13. chest — a box
  14. net — for catching
  15. race — humankind
  16. chest — of your body
  17. race — the arms race
  18. fork — in a road

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