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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. game — a match
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. kid — child
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. kid — to tease
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. fork — in a road
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wind — moving air
  15. row — to paddle
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. wound — an injury
  19. game — wild animals
  20. toast — bread
  21. row — a line
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wound — an injury
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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