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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: club · field · fork · court · nail · last · clip · bowl

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. club — for dancing
  4. court — for sport
  5. field — a subject
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. field — for sport
  8. last — finally
  9. field — farmland
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. club — for golf
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. club — a group
  15. court — of law
  16. last — to go on
  17. clip — to cut
  18. court — of a king
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. fork — in a road
  21. last — final
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — a video

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