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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. race — humankind
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. race — a contest
  6. hand — help
  7. march — music
  8. hand — in cards
  9. root — the cause
  10. craft — a skill
  11. root — of a plant
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. sharp — clever
  14. root — of a word
  15. race — the arms race
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. bark — to shout
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. bat — the animal

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