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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: wave · content · craft · ground · clip · race · fork · cold

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. race — humankind
  3. content — happy
  4. clip — a video
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. fork — in a road
  8. race — the arms race
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. ground — a position
  11. content — the amount
  12. ground — the earth
  13. race — a contest
  14. clip — for paper
  15. ground — crushed
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. craft — boats
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. clip — to cut
  24. craft — a skill

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