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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. drill — a practice
  3. drill — the tool
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. row — a line
  9. wake — a trail
  10. sharp — clever
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. drill — army training
  13. march — music
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. file — a tool
  16. branch — a division
  17. march — the month
  18. march — the month
  19. fork — in a road
  20. row — to paddle
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a document
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. sharp — exactly

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