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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  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. fork — to eat with
  2. hand — in cards
  3. game — a match
  4. mine — for digging
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. court — for sport
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. wound — an injury
  13. game — wild animals
  14. court — of law
  15. wound — an injury
  16. hand — help
  17. rule — a law
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. court — of a king
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. rule — government
  23. trunk — of a car
  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