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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: fork · spring · fall · straw · cell · wake · sharp · mug

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. He refilled his coffee ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. sharp — clever
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. cell — a phone
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. spring — a coil
  8. mug — to rob
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. fall — the season
  12. cell — in biology
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. fall — to drop
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. mug — a face
  19. spring — the season
  20. fork — in a road
  21. spring — of water
  22. wake — a trail
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. mug — a cup

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