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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: game · face · mine · firm · net · fork · bark · spell

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  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. game — a match
  2. game — wild animals
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. firm — decided
  6. face — to confront
  7. spell — magic
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. spell — letters
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. net — after costs
  12. bark — to shout
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. net — in sport
  16. firm — a company
  17. firm — steady
  18. mine — for digging
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. spell — a short time
  21. net — for catching
  22. face — part of the head
  23. face — to point toward
  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