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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. last — finally
  3. press — a publisher
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. chest — a box
  6. last — final
  7. fork — in a road
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. chest — of your body
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. last — to go on
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. bat — the animal
  16. chest — of your body
  17. stock — shares
  18. press — newspapers
  19. craft — a skill
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. press — to push
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. stock — goods
  24. branch — a division

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