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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. wind — moving air
  3. fork — in a road
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — an amount
  6. cold — not warm
  7. row — to paddle
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. pitch — completely
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. degree — from a university
  15. ground — a position
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. ground — the earth
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. degree — temperature
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. row — a line
  22. wind — moving air
  23. ground — crushed
  24. calf — of the leg

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