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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. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. root — the cause
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. land — a country
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fine — all right
  7. chest — of your body
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. land — ground
  11. fine — high quality
  12. ground — crushed
  13. ground — a position
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. chest — of your body
  17. land — to come down
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. root — of a word
  20. chest — a box
  21. craft — boats
  22. ground — the earth
  23. root — of a plant
  24. capital — money

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