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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 116 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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. hand — help
  4. net — after costs
  5. game — a match
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. game — wild animals
  9. rest — a break
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. net — in sport
  14. cell — a phone
  15. fork — in a road
  16. rest — what's left
  17. rest — what's left
  18. cell — in biology
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. hand — in cards
  21. net — for catching
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — a jug

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