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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. craft — boats
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. scale — in music
  5. squash — to crush
  6. craft — a skill
  7. plane — a tool
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. content — happy
  10. squash — the sport
  11. cell — in biology
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. scale — size or range
  14. row — to paddle
  15. cell — a phone
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. row — a line
  18. content — the amount
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. squash — the vegetable

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