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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: nail · fork · march · wound · kid · file · current · chair

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chair — a leader
  3. current — electric
  4. current — happening now
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. march — music
  7. wound — an injury
  8. kid — child
  9. march — the month
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. file — a line of people
  12. file — a tool
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. fork — in a road
  16. march — the month
  17. file — a document
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. wound — an injury
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. current — of water
  24. nail — on a finger

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