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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bat — the animal
  6. chest — of your body
  7. hand — help
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. hand — in cards
  10. can — a tin
  11. craft — boats
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. chest — a box
  17. can — a tin
  18. tear — from crying
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. can — to be able to
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. tear — to rip

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