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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: kick · clip · march · net · fork · vault

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. net — after costs
  3. march — music
  4. vault — a safe
  5. clip — a video
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. march — the month
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. net — in sport
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. clip — for paper
  13. march — the month
  14. clip — to cut
  15. net — for catching
  16. vault — an arched ceiling
  17. fork — in a road
  18. kick — in football

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