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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 116 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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. club — for dancing
  3. key — the most important part
  4. key — for a lock
  5. wound — an injury
  6. march — music
  7. wound — an injury
  8. club — for golf
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. scale — size or range
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. key — in music
  16. march — the month
  17. club — a group
  18. fork — in a road
  19. degree — from a university
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. degree — an amount
  22. scale — in music
  23. degree — temperature
  24. march — the month

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