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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 120 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: row · cold · last · fork · file · bay · land · bowl

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. last — final
  3. file — a tool
  4. fork — in a road
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. file — a document
  9. file — a line of people
  10. land — ground
  11. cold — an illness
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. last — to go on
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. row — a line
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. last — finally
  19. row — to paddle
  20. land — to come down
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bay — a horse colour
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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