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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 116 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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. ball — a great time
  4. fork — in a road
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. rule — a law
  9. clip — to cut
  10. ball — a dance
  11. saw — the tool
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. rule — government
  14. cell — a phone
  15. cell — in biology
  16. clip — a video
  17. march — music
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. march — the month
  20. saw — the tool
  21. clip — for paper
  22. march — the month
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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