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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 120 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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. file — a line of people
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — happy
  6. mate — to breed
  7. file — a document
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. mate — a friend
  11. mate — a partner
  12. mark — a trace
  13. fork — in a road
  14. cold — an illness
  15. file — a tool
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. kick — in football
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. cold — not warm
  24. mark — a grade

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