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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. ball — a dance
  3. field — for sport
  4. wound — an injury
  5. saw — the tool
  6. rest — what's left
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. ball — a great time
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — a break
  12. saw — the tool
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. cold — not warm
  15. land — ground
  16. wound — an injury
  17. field — farmland
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. craft — boats
  20. land — to come down
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. cold — an illness
  23. land — a country
  24. field — a subject

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