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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. band — a music group
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. stem — to come from
  5. roll — a cake
  6. season — of the year
  7. prune — to trim
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. band — a ring
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. mark — a grade
  15. cold — not warm
  16. roll — a list
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. season — in sport
  21. prune — to trim
  22. mark — a trace
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. fork — in a road

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