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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. squash — the sport
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. ground — the earth
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. swing — music
  8. swing — to play on
  9. swing — in golf
  10. drill — a practice
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. ground — a position
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. craft — boats
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. drill — the tool
  18. cold — not warm
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. drill — army training
  21. ground — crushed
  22. squash — to crush
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — an injury

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