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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. rule — a law
  4. fork — in a road
  5. field — for sport
  6. hand — help
  7. rule — government
  8. land — to come down
  9. spring — the season
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. roll — a cake
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — a subject
  14. bound — obliged
  15. spring — of water
  16. hand — in cards
  17. spring — a coil
  18. bound — tied together
  19. roll — a list
  20. land — ground
  21. land — a country
  22. bound — certain
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. hand — part of the body

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