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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. last — final
  6. fork — in a road
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. shower — rain
  9. chair — a leader
  10. shower — to wash
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. track — a song
  13. track — a path
  14. wound — an injury
  15. last — to go on
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. row — a line
  19. last — finally
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. track — to keep track

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