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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. key — the most important part
  3. fall — to drop
  4. file — a line of people
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. drill — the tool
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. file — a tool
  9. key — for a lock
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. file — a document
  12. wound — an injury
  13. fall — the season
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. drill — army training
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. fork — in a road
  20. fall — to drop
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. drill — a practice
  23. bat — the animal
  24. key — in music

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