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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 120 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. march — the month
  3. craft — a skill
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. field — farmland
  6. rash — a series
  7. wind — moving air
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. cold — an illness
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. wind — moving air
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — for sport
  15. march — music
  16. kid — child
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — an injury
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. rash — hasty
  21. craft — boats
  22. march — the month
  23. kid — to tease
  24. cold — not warm

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