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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: fork · wave · game · land · last · hand · cold · bay

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. hand — help
  3. game — a match
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. land — to come down
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. last — finally
  10. hand — in cards
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. last — to go on
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. fork — in a road
  19. game — wild animals
  20. land — ground
  21. land — a country
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. cold — an illness
  24. last — final

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