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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 120 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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. chest — a box
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bark — to shout
  9. field — a subject
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. band — a music group
  15. field — farmland
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. field — for sport
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. band — a ring
  20. chest — of your body
  21. fork — in a road
  22. capital — money
  23. capital — a city
  24. arm — 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