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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: prune · date · swing · sharp · cell · fork · race · game

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. fork — in a road
  3. game — a match
  4. prune — to trim
  5. sharp — clever
  6. cell — a phone
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. race — humankind
  12. swing — in golf
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. game — wild animals
  17. race — the arms race
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — the fruit
  22. swing — to play on
  23. swing — music
  24. cell — in biology

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