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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. bound — certain
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. spring — of water
  6. bound — obliged
  7. spring — a coil
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. squash — the sport
  10. land — a country
  11. fork — in a road
  12. race — the arms race
  13. race — a contest
  14. bound — tied together
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. stock — goods
  17. degree — temperature
  18. race — humankind
  19. degree — an amount
  20. squash — to crush
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. spring — the season
  23. stock — shares
  24. degree — from a university

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