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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. season — in sport
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. prune — to trim
  6. mate — a partner
  7. prune — to trim
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — farmland
  10. kid — to tease
  11. stock — shares
  12. field — for sport
  13. fork — in a road
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. mate — to breed
  16. mate — a friend
  17. season — of the year
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. stock — goods
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. kid — child
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — humankind
  24. race — a contest

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