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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. ball — a great time
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. game — wild animals
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — finally
  7. last — final
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. drill — the tool
  10. kid — to tease
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. sharp — clever
  13. clip — a video
  14. ball — a dance
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. fork — in a road
  17. clip — to cut
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. drill — a practice
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. kid — child
  22. game — a match
  23. clip — for paper
  24. drill — army training

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