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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. file — a document
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. hand — help
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. fork — in a road
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. cold — not warm
  18. file — a line of people
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. mine — for digging
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. file — a tool
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. game — wild animals

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