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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 usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. fall — the season
  6. file — a tool
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. fall — to drop
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. file — a line of people
  11. ground — a position
  12. ground — the earth
  13. prune — to trim
  14. fork — in a road
  15. prune — to trim
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. ground — crushed
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. hand — in cards
  23. file — a document
  24. hand — help

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