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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. craft — a skill
  3. tear — from crying
  4. swing — music
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. craft — boats
  8. plane — a tool
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. tear — from crying
  11. present — there
  12. swing — in golf
  13. swing — to play on
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. present — a gift
  17. cold — an illness
  18. present — the time now
  19. game — a match
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. game — wild animals
  24. tear — to rip

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