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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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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 · march · clip · hand · drill · pop · last · row

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. drill — the tool
  3. row — to paddle
  4. fork — in a road
  5. hand — help
  6. march — the month
  7. march — music
  8. last — to go on
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. drill — a practice
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. row — a line
  13. clip — for paper
  14. pop — to visit
  15. last — finally
  16. drill — army training
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. pop — soda
  19. clip — to cut
  20. hand — in cards
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. clip — a video
  23. pop — music
  24. march — the month

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