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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. mate — a friend
  3. last — final
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. craft — boats
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. last — finally
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mate — to breed
  12. scale — in music
  13. chip — for betting
  14. chip — to eat
  15. scale — size or range
  16. craft — a skill
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. last — to go on
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. mate — a partner
  24. chip — in a computer

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