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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: wind · clip · march · fork · rush · ground · rash · present

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. rush — hurry
  3. fork — in a road
  4. march — the month
  5. clip — for paper
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. present — a gift
  8. clip — a video
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. present — there
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. ground — a position
  13. march — music
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. rash — hasty
  16. ground — the earth
  17. wind — moving air
  18. march — the month
  19. present — the time now
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. rash — a series
  22. ground — crushed
  23. clip — to cut
  24. wind — moving air

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