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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 · clip · deal · race · charge · spring · content · hand

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. clip — for paper
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. clip — a video
  7. content — happy
  8. charge — a price
  9. race — a contest
  10. charge — in control
  11. content — the amount
  12. spring — of water
  13. charge — electricity
  14. hand — help
  15. race — humankind
  16. hand — in cards
  17. spring — the season
  18. deal — to handle
  19. race — the arms race
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. fork — in a road
  22. clip — to cut
  23. spring — a coil
  24. deal — an agreement

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