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

Word bank: ground · cold · stick · coach · fork · squash

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ground — a position
  3. ground — crushed
  4. fork — in a road
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. squash — the sport
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. ground — the earth
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. squash — to crush
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. cold — an illness

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