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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: bat · fork · content · arm · march · chair · sharp · last

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. content — the amount
  3. march — the month
  4. bat — the animal
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. last — to go on
  12. last — finally
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. last — final
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. content — happy
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. sharp — clever
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. fork — in a road
  21. march — music
  22. march — the month
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. bat — in an idiom

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