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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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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: bat · straw · cold · file · pitcher · perch · fork · chip

  1. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. chip — to eat
  4. file — a tool
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. perch — the fish
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. chip — for betting
  13. file — a document
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — the animal
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. file — a line of people
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. fork — a garden tool

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