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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. club — for golf
  3. fork — in a road
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. race — a contest
  6. chest — of your body
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. tear — from crying
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. land — a country
  12. race — humankind
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. race — the arms race
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. club — a group
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. club — for dancing
  21. land — ground
  22. land — to come down
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — the animal

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