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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. cue — a signal
  5. craft — boats
  6. clip — for paper
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cue — for pool
  9. pit — a hole
  10. clip — a video
  11. kid — child
  12. spring — a coil
  13. file — a document
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. file — a tool
  16. cue — a hint
  17. pit — in a race
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. clip — to cut
  20. file — a line of people
  21. spring — the season
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. sharp — clever
  24. spring — of water

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