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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.

Make a worksheet

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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. spell — letters
  3. race — humankind
  4. spell — magic
  5. file — a document
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. race — the arms race
  10. file — a line of people
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. spell — a short time
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. fork — in a road
  16. bark — to shout
  17. race — a contest
  18. file — a 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