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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. craft — a skill
  3. mate — a friend
  4. craft — boats
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mate — to breed
  8. hand — help
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. last — to go on
  12. last — final
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. object — an aim
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. row — a line
  17. object — a thing
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. hand — in cards
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. cold — an illness
  23. last — finally
  24. object — to protest

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