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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. craft — a skill
  3. wound — an injury
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. craft — boats
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — a line
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. row — to paddle
  12. wound — an injury
  13. snap — to click
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. ball — a dance
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. net — in sport
  18. scale — in music
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. ball — a great time
  21. net — for catching
  22. net — after costs
  23. scale — size or range
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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