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

  1. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. file — a line of people
  4. court — for sport
  5. court — of a king
  6. spring — a coil
  7. court — of law
  8. land — ground
  9. tear — from crying
  10. spring — the season
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tear — to rip
  13. land — a country
  14. spring — of water
  15. file — a document
  16. present — a gift
  17. land — to come down
  18. present — the time now
  19. file — a tool
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. present — there
  22. dip — to sink
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. fork — in a road

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