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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: ball · march · clip · fork · land · hand · lash · rush

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. land — to come down
  4. ball — a dance
  5. hand — in cards
  6. march — the month
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. ball — a great time
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. hand — help
  14. march — music
  15. clip — a video
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. clip — for paper
  19. rush — hurry
  20. fork — in a road
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. clip — to cut
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. march — the month

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