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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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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: cold · wake · jam · pitch · root · drill · clip · fork

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. drill — the tool
  3. clip — to cut
  4. pitch — completely
  5. fork — in a road
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. drill — army training
  12. root — the cause
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. root — of a word
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — for paper
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. drill — a practice
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. root — of a plant
  23. wake — a trail
  24. jam — in traffic

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