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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  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. hand — help
  2. rush — hurry
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. club — a group
  5. club — for dancing
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. hand — in cards
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. cold — an illness
  15. kick — in football
  16. root — the cause
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. root — of a plant
  19. root — of a word
  20. club — for golf
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  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