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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. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. root — of a plant
  4. root — of a word
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spring — the season
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. spring — of water
  9. land — a country
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. squash — the sport
  12. kid — child
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. squash — to crush
  16. spring — a coil
  17. root — the cause
  18. land — to come down
  19. fork — in a road
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. land — ground
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. cold — an illness
  24. kid — to tease

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