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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. kid — to tease
  3. fork — in a road
  4. last — final
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. rush — hurry
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. sharp — clever
  12. root — the cause
  13. last — finally
  14. root — of a plant
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. row — to paddle
  17. scale — size or range
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. root — of a word
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. last — to go on
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. scale — in music
  24. row — a line

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