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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. craft — a skill
  3. craft — boats
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. bear — the animal
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. band — a music group
  8. degree — temperature
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. band — a ring
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. date — the fruit
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. bear — the animal
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — an amount

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