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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. spell — letters
  4. saw — the tool
  5. fork — in a road
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. prune — to trim
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. pound — a weight
  10. saw — the tool
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. spell — a short time
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. spell — magic
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. kid — child
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. prune — to trim

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