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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 116 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. spring — a coil
  4. wake — a trail
  5. last — final
  6. last — to go on
  7. pop — soda
  8. last — finally
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. row — to paddle
  13. row — a line
  14. spring — of water
  15. pop — to visit
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. pop — music
  18. craft — boats
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. cold — an illness
  22. craft — a skill
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. spring — the season

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