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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mate · scale · cold · rest · fork · tear

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. scale — size or range
  3. rest — what's left
  4. mate — a friend
  5. fork — in a road
  6. scale — in music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — to rip
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. mate — a partner
  14. cold — an illness
  15. mate — to breed
  16. rest — what's left
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. cold — the Cold War

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