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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 120 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. hand — help
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. band — a music group
  5. spring — a coil
  6. fork — in a road
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. clip — for paper
  9. spring — of water
  10. hand — in cards
  11. vault — a safe
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. spring — the season
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. clip — to cut
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. band — a ring
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. plane — a tool
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. clip — a video

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