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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: wound · tear · rush · jam · march · fork · field · kid

  1. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. 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. jam — a tight spot
  2. rush — hurry
  3. tear — to rip
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. march — music
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. wound — an injury
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. kid — to tease
  13. march — the month
  14. march — the month
  15. wound — an injury
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. tear — from crying
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. fork — in a road
  20. field — farmland
  21. tear — from crying
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. 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