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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: track · spring · straw · cell · fork · staff · cold · deal

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. staff — employees
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. staff — employees
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. cell — in biology
  10. staff — a stick
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. fork — in a road
  13. track — a song
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — a coil
  16. deal — to handle
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. cell — a phone
  19. spring — the season
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. track — to keep track

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