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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. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. file — a tool
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. cold — an illness
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. stem — to come from
  10. cold — not warm
  11. kid — child
  12. file — a line of people
  13. present — the time now
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. present — a gift
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. present — there
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. fork — in a road
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. deal — to handle
  24. file — a document

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