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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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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: march · stick · cell · file · club · wound · fan · bark

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. club — for dancing
  4. march — music
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. march — the month
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. cell — a phone
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. wound — an injury
  14. file — a tool
  15. wound — an injury
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. club — a group
  18. file — a line of people
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cell — in biology
  22. file — a document
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. club — for golf

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