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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. squash — the sport
  4. wound — an injury
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. stand — to bear
  7. squash — to crush
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. mate — a partner
  10. kid — to tease
  11. file — a document
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — an amount
  16. kid — child
  17. file — a tool
  18. mate — a friend
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. wound — an injury
  21. fork — in a road
  22. degree — temperature
  23. file — a line of people
  24. mate — to breed

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