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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: last · straw · band · wind · fork · race · kick · date

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. wind — moving air
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. last — final
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. last — to go on
  9. wind — moving air
  10. race — a contest
  11. date — the fruit
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. last — finally
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. race — the arms race
  18. kick — in football
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. fork — in a road
  21. band — a music group
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. band — a ring
  24. race — humankind

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