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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. scale — in music
  4. field — a subject
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. field — farmland
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. scale — size or range
  12. pit — a hole
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. field — for sport
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. row — a line
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. fork — in a road
  22. pit — in a race
  23. row — to paddle
  24. fork — a garden tool

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