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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. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. hand — help
  4. face — part of the head
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. degree — from a university
  8. spring — the season
  9. face — to confront
  10. hand — in cards
  11. degree — temperature
  12. cold — not warm
  13. degree — an amount
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. cell — in biology
  17. craft — boats
  18. craft — a skill
  19. cold — an illness
  20. spring — of water
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. face — to point toward
  23. cell — a phone
  24. spring — a coil

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