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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. fork — in a road
  6. safe — out of danger
  7. wound — an injury
  8. kid — child
  9. date — the fruit
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. safe — a strongbox
  13. game — a match
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. bat — the animal
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. game — wild animals
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. kid — to tease
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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