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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 120 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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. craft — a skill
  4. clip — for paper
  5. cold — an illness
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. cold — not warm
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. present — a gift
  10. fine — all right
  11. last — final
  12. clip — a video
  13. foot — a measure
  14. last — to go on
  15. swing — to play on
  16. clip — to cut
  17. present — there
  18. craft — boats
  19. swing — music
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. swing — in golf
  22. fine — high quality
  23. present — the time now
  24. cold — the Cold War

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