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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. saw — the tool
  3. craft — a skill
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. craft — boats
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. ball — a great time
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. saw — the tool
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. wound — an injury
  14. clip — a video
  15. cold — not warm
  16. degree — temperature
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — for paper
  19. degree — from a university
  20. ball — a dance
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. degree — an amount
  23. stem — to come from
  24. craft — a handicraft

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