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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: clip · date · drill · straw · field · fork · suit · hand

  1. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. When will it ________________ you to start?
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — in cards
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. hand — help
  5. date — the fruit
  6. clip — a video
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. clip — to cut
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. fork — in a road
  12. suit — clothes
  13. drill — army training
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. drill — the tool
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. field — a subject
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. drill — a practice
  21. clip — for paper
  22. hand — in cards
  23. suit — to fit
  24. fork — to eat with

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