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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. foot — a measure
  3. field — a subject
  4. rule — a law
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. field — farmland
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. content — happy
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. fork — in a road
  17. field — for sport
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. rule — government
  20. ball — a dance
  21. mine — for digging
  22. ball — a great time
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. content — the amount

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