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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. swing — music
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. rule — a law
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hand — in cards
  7. fork — in a road
  8. file — a line of people
  9. spring — the season
  10. hand — help
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — an injury
  13. spring — a coil
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. rule — government
  17. swing — to play on
  18. swing — in golf
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a tool
  24. spring — of water

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