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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. object — to protest
  3. lean — thin
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — a subject
  6. squash — the sport
  7. fork — in a road
  8. present — a gift
  9. hand — in cards
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. field — for sport
  12. cold — not warm
  13. lean — to bend
  14. object — an aim
  15. field — farmland
  16. present — there
  17. object — a thing
  18. squash — to crush
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. cold — an illness
  21. hand — help
  22. present — the time now
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. lean — to rest against

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