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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: hand · fork · chip · cold · fine · clip · racket · wind

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. fine — all right
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. chip — to eat
  8. wind — moving air
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. wind — moving air
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. clip — to cut
  13. fork — in a road
  14. hand — help
  15. fine — high quality
  16. clip — a video
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. clip — for paper
  19. chip — for betting
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — in cards
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. racket — for tennis

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