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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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. craft — a skill
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. spell — letters
  7. craft — boats
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. file — a document
  10. snap — to click
  11. tear — from crying
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. tear — from crying
  15. row — a line
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a line of people
  18. sharp — clever
  19. row — to paddle
  20. spell — magic
  21. dip — to sink
  22. spell — a short time
  23. tear — to rip
  24. row — a quarrel

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