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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. cold — not warm
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. craft — a skill
  5. field — farmland
  6. craft — boats
  7. field — for sport
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. cold — an illness
  11. ground — the earth
  12. tube — the underground
  13. deal — to handle
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. sharp — clever
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. ground — a position
  18. ground — crushed
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rock — a stone
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. field — a subject
  24. tube — a container

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