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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. clip — to cut
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — the season
  5. tear — to rip
  6. land — a country
  7. land — to come down
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. rash — hasty
  10. fork — in a road
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. bound — certain
  13. land — ground
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. bound — obliged
  16. bound — tied together
  17. rash — a series
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — for paper
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. spring — of water

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