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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: wound · bark · fan · fork · row · fall · cell · march

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. row — to paddle
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cell — in biology
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. march — the month
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. fall — to drop
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. row — a line
  12. cell — a phone
  13. fall — to drop
  14. wound — an injury
  15. march — the month
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. fork — in a road
  18. wound — an injury
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. march — music
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. fall — the season
  24. bark — to shout

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