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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. root — of a plant
  3. cold — not warm
  4. root — of a word
  5. track — a song
  6. root — the cause
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. band — a ring
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. cold — an illness
  11. band — a music group
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — a contest
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. race — the arms race
  17. wind — moving air
  18. track — a path
  19. wind — moving air
  20. track — to keep track
  21. fork — in a road
  22. shower — to wash
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. shower — rain

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