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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — an amount
  5. fork — in a road
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. spring — of water
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. rule — a law
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. row — a line
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. degree — temperature
  17. spring — a coil
  18. spring — the season
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. bark — to shout
  22. rule — government
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. row — to paddle

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