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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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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 · rule · kick · hand · tube · field · band · cold

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. rule — a law
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. hand — help
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — farmland
  11. band — a ring
  12. tube — a container
  13. kick — in football
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. field — for sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — an illness
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. band — a music group
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. hand — in cards
  22. fork — in a road
  23. rule — government
  24. tube — the underground

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