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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. can — a tin
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. stem — to come from
  5. tear — to rip
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. tear — from crying
  11. land — a country
  12. can — a tin
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. can — to be able to
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. craft — boats
  19. perch — the fish
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. land — to come down
  22. tear — from crying
  23. land — ground
  24. stem — of a plant

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