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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: straw · fork · march · cabinet · kid · court · drill · club

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. club — for golf
  4. drill — the tool
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. kid — to tease
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. march — music
  11. march — the month
  12. drill — army training
  13. drill — a practice
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. march — the month
  16. fork — in a road
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. court — for sport
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. court — of law
  21. club — a group
  22. club — for dancing
  23. court — of a king
  24. kid — child

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