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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: fork · chest · track · arm · prune · cold · chip · pass

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. track — to keep track
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. cold — not warm
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — an illness
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. track — a path
  17. fork — in a road
  18. chest — of your body
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. chip — to eat
  21. track — a song
  22. prune — to trim
  23. chip — for betting
  24. chest — a box

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