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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: race · fork · cold · wound · straw · dip · kick · toast

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. toast — bread
  3. cold — an illness
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. wound — an injury
  6. toast — the most admired
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. race — a contest
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. wound — an injury
  12. kick — in football
  13. fork — in a road
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. dip — to sink
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. race — the arms race
  24. race — humankind

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