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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: rule · tube · fork · straw · race · prune · cold · wake

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cold — an illness
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rule — a law
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. fork — in a road
  9. race — the arms race
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. wake — a trail
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. tube — a container
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. prune — to trim
  17. race — a contest
  18. race — humankind
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. tube — the underground
  21. prune — to trim
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rule — government
  24. rule — to rule out

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