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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: vault · fork · degree · trunk · straw · sharp · tear · ground

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. tear — from crying
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. degree — from a university
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. tear — from crying
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. fork — in a road
  12. degree — an amount
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. sharp — clever
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. vault — a safe
  20. tear — to rip
  21. degree — temperature
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. ground — crushed
  24. ground — the earth

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