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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. staff — a stick
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. staff — employees
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. chest — of your body
  7. sharp — clever
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. staff — employees
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. chest — a box
  12. shower — to wash
  13. court — of law
  14. chest — of your body
  15. fork — in a road
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. object — to protest
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. court — of a king
  20. shower — rain
  21. object — an aim
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. object — a thing

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