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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 116 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: band · row · bat · drill · court · pound · fork · clip

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. band — a ring
  3. row — to paddle
  4. pound — a weight
  5. court — of law
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. drill — army training
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. drill — a practice
  10. clip — for paper
  11. band — a music group
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. row — a line
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. fork — in a road
  16. court — for sport
  17. court — of a king
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. clip — to cut
  22. drill — the tool
  23. bat — the animal
  24. clip — a video

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