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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: straw · degree · track · cell · court · file · pound · fork

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. track — a song
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. pound — a weight
  5. court — of law
  6. cell — a phone
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. court — of a king
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. degree — temperature
  12. file — a document
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. court — for sport
  15. fork — in a road
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a line of people
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — from a university
  20. track — a path
  21. cell — in biology
  22. track — to keep track
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. pound — for dogs

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