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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. ball — a dance
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. ball — a great time
  6. track — to keep track
  7. plane — a tool
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fork — in a road
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. cold — not warm
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. sharp — clever
  20. track — a path
  21. track — a song
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. plane — an aircraft

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