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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. craft — a skill
  3. craft — boats
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. fall — to drop
  7. game — a match
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. cold — not warm
  10. saw — the tool
  11. rule — a law
  12. swing — in golf
  13. swing — music
  14. fall — to drop
  15. rule — government
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. race — humankind
  18. swing — to play on
  19. fall — the season
  20. cold — an illness
  21. race — a contest
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. race — the arms race
  24. game — wild animals

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