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

Word bank: fork · kid · sharp · chair · chest · game · tear · march

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. chest — of your body
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. march — music
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. tear — from crying
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. fork — in a road
  11. game — wild animals
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. kid — child
  14. tear — from crying
  15. march — the month
  16. sharp — clever
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. tear — to rip
  19. march — the month
  20. chair — a leader
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — a box
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. kid — to tease

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