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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. drill — the tool
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. court — for sport
  7. march — the month
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. march — the month
  11. craft — boats
  12. drill — army training
  13. drill — a practice
  14. cold — an illness
  15. court — of law
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. snap — to click
  18. court — of a king
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. craft — a skill
  22. march — music
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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