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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: game · chest · row · ground · net · fork · straw · spring

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. ground — a position
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. game — wild animals
  5. net — in sport
  6. net — after costs
  7. chest — of your body
  8. row — to paddle
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. net — for catching
  11. ground — the earth
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. spring — a coil
  14. chest — a box
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. chest — of your body
  18. fork — in a road
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. game — a match
  23. ground — crushed
  24. game — a kind of play

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