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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. board — to get on
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. board — a committee
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. tear — from crying
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. ball — a great time
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. clip — to cut
  14. branch — a division
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. fork — in a road
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. clip — a video
  20. bat — the animal
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. ball — a dance
  23. clip — for paper
  24. board — a flat piece

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