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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 · rash · shower · pound · hand · land · chair · sharp

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. rash — hasty
  4. hand — in cards
  5. shower — rain
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. shower — to wash
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — a leader
  10. hand — help
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. rash — a series
  16. pound — a weight
  17. fork — in a road
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. land — a country
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — ground

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