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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: ball · hand · sharp · row · race · current · land · fork

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. hand — in cards
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. sharp — clever
  6. land — a country
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. fork — in a road
  9. land — ground
  10. land — to come down
  11. row — to paddle
  12. ball — a dance
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. race — the arms race
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. current — happening now
  18. row — a line
  19. race — a contest
  20. ball — a great time
  21. current — of water
  22. current — electric
  23. race — humankind
  24. sharp — exactly

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