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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. file — a line of people
  4. cold — an illness
  5. net — in sport
  6. fork — in a road
  7. cold — not warm
  8. march — music
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. file — a document
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. kick — in football
  14. file — a tool
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. march — the month
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. march — the month
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. net — after costs
  22. net — for catching
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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