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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. pop — soda
  4. key — in music
  5. mine — for digging
  6. hand — in cards
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. file — a tool
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. hand — help
  11. game — a match
  12. fork — in a road
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. file — a line of people
  15. pop — music
  16. key — for a lock
  17. bark — to shout
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. file — a document
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. game — wild animals
  22. pop — to visit
  23. key — the most important part
  24. fork — to eat with

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