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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. march — the month
  3. bass — low music
  4. spring — of water
  5. craft — boats
  6. march — music
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. march — the month
  9. band — a music group
  10. root — the cause
  11. spring — the season
  12. rash — hasty
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. bass — the fish
  16. bear — the animal
  17. root — of a word
  18. bear — the animal
  19. spring — a coil
  20. rash — a series
  21. root — of a plant
  22. band — a ring
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. bear — to put up with

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