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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: kid · race · fork · content · mine · bark · bore · spring

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. kid — to tease
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. bore — to drill
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. content — the amount
  11. race — a contest
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. bore — to tire
  14. spring — of water
  15. race — the arms race
  16. spring — the season
  17. race — humankind
  18. spring — a coil
  19. kid — child
  20. bark — to shout
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. content — happy
  23. fork — in a road
  24. mine — for digging

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