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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: rock · mouse · drill · press · march · court · bark · cell

  1. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. rock — music
  3. march — the month
  4. press — a publisher
  5. court — of law
  6. press — newspapers
  7. cell — a phone
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. drill — a practice
  10. drill — the tool
  11. march — the month
  12. press — to push
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. bark — to shout
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. rock — a stone
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. cell — in biology
  20. march — music
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. court — for sport
  23. court — of a king
  24. drill — army training

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