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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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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: bowl · content · wound · file · bark · club · mate · march

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. content — happy
  3. mate — a partner
  4. mate — a friend
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. march — the month
  7. file — a tool
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. wound — an injury
  10. mate — to breed
  11. march — music
  12. club — for golf
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. content — the amount
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. file — a line of people
  18. bark — to shout
  19. march — the month
  20. club — a group
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. file — a document
  23. club — for dancing
  24. bark — of a tree

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