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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. firm — decided
  3. ground — a position
  4. firm — a company
  5. ground — crushed
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. kick — in football
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. firm — steady
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. wake — a trail
  19. bat — the animal
  20. fork — in a road
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. ground — the earth

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