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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. game — wild animals
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. sharp — clever
  5. content — the amount
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. fork — in a road
  9. content — happy
  10. bass — low music
  11. kid — to tease
  12. field — farmland
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. kid — child
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. ball — a dance
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. field — a subject
  20. bass — the fish
  21. ball — a great time
  22. field — for sport
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. game — a match

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