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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 116 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: fork · sharp · fine · cell · clip · plane · present · wound

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. sharp — clever
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. fine — all right
  5. clip — for paper
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. present — a gift
  8. plane — a tool
  9. cell — a phone
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. present — there
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. clip — a video
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. fine — high quality
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. clip — to cut
  20. present — the time now
  21. fork — in a road
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wound — an injury
  24. plane — in geometry

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