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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. degree — an amount
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. charge — a price
  6. charge — electricity
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. craft — a skill
  9. shower — to wash
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. fall — the season
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — to drop
  14. file — a line of people
  15. degree — from a university
  16. fork — in a road
  17. shower — rain
  18. charge — in control
  19. degree — temperature
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. file — a document
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. file — a tool

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