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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. prune — to trim
  4. present — a gift
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. prune — to trim
  7. ground — crushed
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. scale — size or range
  10. present — the time now
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. fork — in a road
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. scale — in music
  17. present — there
  18. content — the amount
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. ground — a position
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. ground — the earth
  24. content — happy

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