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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: march · wind · ball · fork · tube · pound · perch · spring

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. spring — the season
  3. tube — the underground
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. ball — a dance
  6. wind — moving air
  7. fork — in a road
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. tube — a container
  11. wind — moving air
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. march — the month
  15. ball — a great time
  16. march — the month
  17. spring — of water
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. spring — a coil
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. pound — a weight
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. perch — the fish

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