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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 120 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: swing · court · scale · prune · fork · sharp · wake · hand

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. swing — music
  4. court — for sport
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. swing — in golf
  7. swing — to play on
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. scale — size or range
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. sharp — clever
  16. prune — to trim
  17. prune — to trim
  18. hand — help
  19. court — of law
  20. fork — in a road
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. wake — a trail
  23. court — of a king
  24. scale — in music

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