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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. craft — a skill
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. last — to go on
  7. file — a line of people
  8. craft — boats
  9. last — finally
  10. last — final
  11. ground — a position
  12. rash — a series
  13. ground — the earth
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. file — a tool
  16. ground — crushed
  17. degree — temperature
  18. land — to come down
  19. degree — from a university
  20. file — a document
  21. degree — an amount
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. land — a country
  24. land — ground

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