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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: content · season · field · ground · leaves · pop · fork · clip

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. field — for sport
  3. content — the amount
  4. clip — for paper
  5. pop — to visit
  6. field — farmland
  7. pop — soda
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. ground — crushed
  10. ground — the earth
  11. ground — a position
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. clip — to cut
  14. field — a subject
  15. season — of the year
  16. season — in sport
  17. fork — in a road
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. content — happy
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. pop — music
  23. clip — a video
  24. fork — to eat with

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