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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. net — for catching
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. bark — to shout
  12. spring — the season
  13. net — in sport
  14. spring — a coil
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. spring — of water
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. pit — a hole
  20. net — after costs
  21. fork — in a road
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. pit — in a race

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