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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. game — wild animals
  6. chair — a leader
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. hand — in cards
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. pit — a hole
  12. game — a match
  13. fork — in a road
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. hand — help
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — a subject
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. stand — to bear
  20. wax — to grow
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. field — farmland
  23. pit — in a race
  24. hand — part of the body

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