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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. land — a country
  3. hand — in cards
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. land — ground
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. scale — in music
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. chest — of your body
  10. hand — help
  11. scale — size or range
  12. file — a tool
  13. chest — a box
  14. file — a line of people
  15. file — a document
  16. chest — of your body
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. prune — to trim
  20. land — to come down
  21. bound — tied together
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bound — obliged
  24. fork — in a road

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