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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 120 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: march · drill · land · content · cell · cue · fork · hand

  1. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. land — a country
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. fork — in a road
  5. cell — a phone
  6. drill — the tool
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. content — happy
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. march — the month
  11. hand — in cards
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. march — music
  14. drill — army training
  15. cue — for pool
  16. cue — a hint
  17. drill — a practice
  18. march — the month
  19. hand — help
  20. content — the amount
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. land — ground
  23. cell — in biology
  24. land — to come down

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