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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: fork · court · lean · staff · cold · kid · mine · pit

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. lean — to bend
  3. mine — for digging
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. cold — not warm
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. staff — a stick
  9. court — of law
  10. pit — in a race
  11. cold — an illness
  12. staff — employees
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. kid — child
  16. court — of a king
  17. court — for sport
  18. staff — employees
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. lean — thin
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. fork — in a road
  23. pit — a hole
  24. kid — to tease

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