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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: tube · field · march · fork · racket · rule · clip · kick

  1. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. march — the month
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. clip — to cut
  5. rule — government
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. march — music
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. field — farmland
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. tube — the underground
  12. kick — in football
  13. field — a subject
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. field — for sport
  19. march — the month
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — a video
  23. fork — in a road
  24. tube — a container

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