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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  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. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. chest — a box
  5. chest — of your body
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. last — to go on
  9. track — a song
  10. craft — a skill
  11. fine — all right
  12. track — to keep track
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — a match
  15. fine — high quality
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. chest — of your body
  18. game — wild animals
  19. last — finally
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. track — a path
  22. last — final
  23. craft — a handicraft
  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