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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. file — a line of people
  4. file — a tool
  5. tear — from crying
  6. plane — a tool
  7. court — for sport
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. track — to keep track
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. track — a path
  12. track — a song
  13. tear — from crying
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. band — a music group
  19. file — a document
  20. band — a ring
  21. court — of law
  22. tear — to rip
  23. fork — in a road
  24. cabinet — ministers

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