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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. foot — a measure
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. drill — the tool
  6. kid — child
  7. drill — a practice
  8. capital — a city
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. drill — army training
  16. content — the amount
  17. capital — money
  18. file — a line of people
  19. kid — to tease
  20. file — a tool
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. fork — in a road
  23. content — happy
  24. file — a document

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