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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: object · kick · fork · hand · band · cold · root · game

  1. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. cold — not warm
  3. hand — in cards
  4. object — to protest
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. object — an aim
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. root — of a word
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. game — a match
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. cold — an illness
  15. object — a thing
  16. band — a music group
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. band — a ring
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. game — wild animals
  22. root — the cause
  23. hand — help
  24. root — of a plant

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