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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: cold · fork · scale · field · bear · bowl · pound · march

  1. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. scale — size or range
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. field — a subject
  7. scale — in music
  8. pound — a weight
  9. cold — an illness
  10. march — music
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. cold — not warm
  16. fork — in a road
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. bear — the animal
  19. march — the month
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. bear — the animal

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