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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. cold — not warm
  3. track — a path
  4. track — a song
  5. cold — an illness
  6. capital — money
  7. bat — the animal
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. hand — in cards
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. capital — a city
  14. rock — music
  15. craft — boats
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. hand — help
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. track — to keep track
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. snap — to click
  23. rock — a stone
  24. bat — in an idiom

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