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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. hand — help
  3. spring — of water
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. spring — the season
  8. court — of law
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. hand — in cards
  11. fork — in a road
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. court — for sport
  14. tube — a container
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. spring — a coil
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. tube — the underground
  20. court — of a king
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. plane — a tool
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. straw — dry grass

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