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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: kid · lean · pitcher · fan · trunk · toast · capital · fork

  1. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. capital — money
  4. lean — thin
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. toast — the most admired
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. kid — child
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. lean — to bend
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. kid — to tease
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. toast — bread
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. capital — a city
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. fork — in a road
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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