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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. file — a line of people
  3. bore — to tire
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. file — a document
  6. last — finally
  7. bore — to drill
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. press — to push
  10. field — for sport
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. last — to go on
  13. kick — in football
  14. last — final
  15. fork — in a road
  16. press — newspapers
  17. press — a publisher
  18. bat — the animal
  19. field — farmland
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. file — a tool
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. field — a subject
  24. bat — for baseball

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