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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: fork · date · chest · straw · lash · nail · hand · file

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. date — the fruit
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. file — a tool
  5. hand — help
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. chest — a box
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. chest — of your body
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. hand — in cards
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a document
  23. chest — of your body
  24. fork — in a road

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