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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 came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. mine — for digging
  4. plane — a tool
  5. kick — in football
  6. chest — of your body
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. land — to come down
  10. land — ground
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. cold — an illness
  19. land — a country
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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