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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 came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. mine — for digging
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. race — the arms race
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. band — a ring
  7. bulb — for light
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. bulb — for light
  12. cold — an illness
  13. band — a music group
  14. race — a contest
  15. branch — a division
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. snap — to click
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. race — humankind

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