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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. craft — boats
  3. band — a music group
  4. saw — the tool
  5. degree — from a university
  6. saw — the tool
  7. chest — a box
  8. drill — the tool
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. chest — of your body
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. chest — of your body
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — army training
  16. fork — in a road
  17. degree — an amount
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. degree — temperature
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. bat — the animal
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. band — a ring

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