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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. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Where did you ________________ them?
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  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. vault — in gymnastics
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — to trim
  5. mug — to rob
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. mug — a face
  8. vault — a safe
  9. row — a line
  10. swing — in golf
  11. kid — child
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. cold — an illness
  16. swing — to play on
  17. mug — a cup
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. swing — music
  23. fork — in a road
  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