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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 120 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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. rule — government
  3. kid — to tease
  4. kid — child
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. suit — to fit
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — in cards
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. rule — a law
  12. suit — in cards
  13. fork — in a road
  14. chair — a leader
  15. suit — clothes
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. degree — an amount
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. degree — temperature
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. degree — from a university
  24. fork — to eat with

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