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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. tube — the underground
  5. fork — in a road
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. spell — a short time
  9. game — wild animals
  10. tube — a container
  11. stem — to come from
  12. hand — help
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. spell — magic
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. scale — size or range
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. hand — in cards
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. scale — in music
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. spell — letters
  24. fork — to eat with

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