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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 · drill · prune · racket · fork · clip · race · key

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. hand — in cards
  4. fork — in a road
  5. key — in music
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. drill — a practice
  8. prune — to trim
  9. clip — a video
  10. drill — the tool
  11. key — for a lock
  12. prune — to trim
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — the arms race
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. drill — army training
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. hand — help
  20. race — a contest
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — to cut
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. key — the most important part

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