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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. mate — to breed
  4. fork — in a road
  5. object — to protest
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. content — happy
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. object — a thing
  10. wound — an injury
  11. object — an aim
  12. mate — a friend
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. shower — to wash
  16. bark — to shout
  17. mate — a partner
  18. shower — rain
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. wound — an injury
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. content — the amount
  24. wind — moving air

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