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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. band — a ring
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. present — a gift
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. craft — a skill
  11. stem — to come from
  12. band — a music group
  13. present — there
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. spell — letters
  16. cell — a phone
  17. stand — to bear
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. present — the time now
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. spell — magic
  22. cold — not warm
  23. spell — a short time
  24. cell — in biology

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