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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. craft — a skill
  3. saw — the tool
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. craft — boats
  8. degree — from a university
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. degree — temperature
  12. cold — not warm
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. branch — a division
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. degree — an amount
  17. lie — to recline
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. capital — a city
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cold — an illness
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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