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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: prune · content · game · tear · fork · race · mate · present

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. game — a match
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — happy
  7. present — there
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. present — the time now
  10. fork — in a road
  11. tear — from crying
  12. mate — a partner
  13. prune — to trim
  14. game — wild animals
  15. mate — a friend
  16. content — the amount
  17. tear — to rip
  18. present — a gift
  19. tear — from crying
  20. prune — to trim
  21. race — the arms race
  22. mate — to breed
  23. race — humankind
  24. race — a contest

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