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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. last — final
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. wind — moving air
  5. last — finally
  6. craft — boats
  7. pop — music
  8. wound — an injury
  9. pop — to visit
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. ball — a great time
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. sharp — clever
  16. craft — a skill
  17. last — to go on
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mine — for digging
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wound — an injury
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. pop — soda

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