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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. degree — from a university
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. net — for catching
  8. cold — an illness
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — temperature
  11. hand — help
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. craft — a skill
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. net — in sport
  18. craft — boats
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. hand — in cards
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. cold — not warm
  23. net — after costs
  24. nail — for a hammer

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