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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: march · craft · clip · content · land · club · row · kick

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. march — music
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. craft — a skill
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. march — the month
  7. kick — in football
  8. clip — a video
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. land — to come down
  11. craft — boats
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. clip — to cut
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. club — for golf
  16. land — a country
  17. row — a line
  18. land — ground
  19. club — for dancing
  20. row — to paddle
  21. march — the month
  22. club — a group
  23. content — happy
  24. content — the amount

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