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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 120 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: arm · wound · cold · pit · fork · last · spring · wake

  1. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — a coil
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. last — finally
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. last — to go on
  13. wound — an injury
  14. last — final
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. pit — in a race
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pit — a hole
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spring — the season
  23. wake — a trail
  24. fork — a garden tool

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