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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: ground · file · racket · snap · fork · chair · tube · date

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  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. racket — for tennis
  2. snap — to click
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. chair — a leader
  5. file — a document
  6. ground — a position
  7. ground — crushed
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. file — a line of people
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. tube — the underground
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. fork — in a road
  15. date — the fruit
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. tube — a container
  18. file — a tool
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. chair — a professorship
  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