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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. squash — the sport
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wound — an injury
  6. root — of a plant
  7. root — the cause
  8. net — after costs
  9. wind — moving air
  10. root — of a word
  11. game — wild animals
  12. wound — an injury
  13. band — a ring
  14. squash — to crush
  15. game — a match
  16. band — a music group
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. net — for catching
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. wind — moving air
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. fork — in a road
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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