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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bank — for money
  4. bank — of a river
  5. shower — to wash
  6. field — a subject
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. bank — for money
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. wax — to grow
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. shower — rain
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. fork — in a road
  20. field — for sport
  21. branch — a division
  22. cold — not warm
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. field — farmland

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