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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 · fork · current · wound · ruler · kid · field · race

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. race — a contest
  3. race — humankind
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. current — of water
  6. march — the month
  7. current — happening now
  8. fork — in a road
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. current — electric
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. wound — an injury
  13. field — for sport
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. field — a subject
  16. wound — an injury
  17. kid — to tease
  18. march — the month
  19. march — music
  20. race — the arms race
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. kid — child
  23. field — farmland
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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