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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. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. craft — boats
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. net — after costs
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — of water
  9. bound — obliged
  10. craft — a skill
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — help
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bound — certain
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. spring — a coil
  19. bound — tied together
  20. sharp — clever
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. net — in sport
  23. net — for catching
  24. bat — in an idiom

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