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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: fork · snap · row · content · capital · field · jam · band

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. band — a music group
  3. field — a subject
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. row — to paddle
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. field — for sport
  8. band — a ring
  9. snap — to click
  10. row — a line
  11. field — farmland
  12. content — happy
  13. content — the amount
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. capital — a city
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. capital — money
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. fork — in a road
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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