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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: field · lean · fork · content · roll · shower · game · prune

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. content — happy
  4. field — farmland
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. lean — thin
  7. prune — to trim
  8. game — wild animals
  9. game — a match
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. field — a subject
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — to wash
  15. roll — a list
  16. fork — in a road
  17. prune — to trim
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. content — the amount
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. field — for sport
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. roll — a cake

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