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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: ground · fork · hide · land · cell · straw · hand · march

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. land — to come down
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. ground — a position
  6. march — music
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. cell — a phone
  9. land — a country
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. march — the month
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. land — ground
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. fork — in a road
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. ground — crushed
  21. ground — the earth
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. cell — in biology

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