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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  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. bark — of a tree
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. kid — child
  5. last — to go on
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. last — final
  8. face — to point toward
  9. kid — to tease
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. game — wild animals
  12. last — finally
  13. face — to confront
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — for digging
  18. game — a match
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. bark — to shout
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. face — part of the head
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  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