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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. field — a subject
  3. mate — a partner
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cue — a hint
  6. track — a song
  7. row — a line
  8. rule — government
  9. cue — for pool
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. mate — a friend
  13. track — a path
  14. track — to keep track
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cue — a signal
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — farmland
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. fork — in a road
  22. rule — a law
  23. row — to paddle
  24. mate — to breed

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