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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.

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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. wax — to grow
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. spell — a short time
  10. squash — to crush
  11. staff — a stick
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. squash — the sport
  17. spell — letters
  18. fork — in a road
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. staff — employees
  22. staff — employees
  23. spell — magic
  24. straw — dry grass

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