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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 · deal · capital · cell · staff · squash · clip · field

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. field — farmland
  3. squash — the sport
  4. staff — a stick
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. capital — a city
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. staff — employees
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cell — a phone
  11. staff — employees
  12. deal — to handle
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cell — in biology
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. clip — for paper
  19. fork — in a road
  20. field — a subject
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. clip — a video
  23. field — for sport
  24. squash — to crush

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