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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 116 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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. pop — to visit
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. file — a document
  6. file — a line of people
  7. craft — boats
  8. face — to point toward
  9. wound — an injury
  10. degree — an amount
  11. ball — a dance
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. game — a match
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. game — wild animals
  16. face — to confront
  17. degree — from a university
  18. file — a tool
  19. face — part of the head
  20. ball — a great time
  21. pop — music
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pop — soda
  24. degree — temperature

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