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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. clip — for paper
  3. roll — a cake
  4. net — in sport
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. clip — to cut
  8. board — to get on
  9. roll — a list
  10. board — a committee
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. net — after costs
  15. pitch — completely
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. net — for catching
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. clip — a video
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. field — a subject
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. fork — in a road

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