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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — moving air
  3. field — farmland
  4. hand — help
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. march — the month
  7. craft — a skill
  8. field — a subject
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. scale — in music
  12. hand — in cards
  13. craft — boats
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. field — for sport
  16. march — music
  17. scale — size or range
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. march — the month
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. bat — the animal

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