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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. key — for a lock
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. bat — the animal
  7. key — the most important part
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. key — in music
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. fork — in a road
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. row — a line
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. current — of water
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. row — to paddle
  20. scale — size or range
  21. current — electric
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. scale — in music

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