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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. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. My mare is ________________ in color.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. wake — a trail
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fork — in a road
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. shower — to wash
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. bay — a horse colour
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. swing — music
  13. mine — for digging
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. kid — child
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. swing — in golf
  18. kid — to tease
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. shower — rain
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. swing — to play on
  24. cold — the Cold War

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