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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. scale — size or range
  6. fork — in a road
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bark — to shout
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. scale — in music
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. content — happy
  13. content — the amount
  14. pit — a hole
  15. cold — not warm
  16. pitch — completely
  17. pit — in a race
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. dip — to sink
  24. dip — to dunk

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