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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  11. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. season — of the year
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. branch — a division
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. season — in sport
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. row — to paddle
  10. safe — out of danger
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. file — a line of people
  14. clip — to cut
  15. file — a document
  16. clip — for paper
  17. fork — in a road
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. clip — a video
  21. safe — a strongbox
  22. kick — in football
  23. row — a line
  24. kick — with a leg

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