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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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468
Word bank
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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. spell — letters
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. saw — the tool
  7. field — a subject
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. field — for sport
  11. net — in sport
  12. wind — moving air
  13. spell — magic
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. field — farmland
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. fork — in a road
  19. saw — the tool
  20. rash — a series
  21. wind — moving air
  22. net — for catching
  23. net — after costs
  24. spell — a short time

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