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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 116 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 came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. cap — a lid
  3. cap — a hat
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. field — farmland
  6. staff — employees
  7. clip — for paper
  8. field — for sport
  9. cap — of ice
  10. staff — employees
  11. kid — child
  12. field — a subject
  13. kid — to tease
  14. staff — a stick
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. race — humankind
  19. clip — a video
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. race — a contest
  23. clip — to cut
  24. race — the arms race

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