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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 · bark · capital · fork · field · march · spring · straw

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. content — the amount
  3. march — music
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. fork — in a road
  9. spring — a coil
  10. bark — to shout
  11. content — happy
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. capital — money
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. field — a subject
  16. march — the month
  17. capital — a city
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. march — the month
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — the season
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. field — farmland

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