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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: mine · fork · bark · capital · march · wound · net · rush

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. march — music
  3. march — the month
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. march — the month
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. bark — to shout
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. fork — in a road
  15. rush — hurry
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. net — in sport
  18. capital — money
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. net — after costs
  21. net — for catching
  22. wound — an injury
  23. mine — for digging
  24. fork — a garden tool

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