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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 120 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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. ball — a great time
  3. tear — from crying
  4. season — of the year
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. wound — an injury
  7. mark — a grade
  8. ball — a dance
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. season — in sport
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — to rip
  16. scale — size or range
  17. mark — a trace
  18. wound — an injury
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. scale — in music
  23. craft — a skill
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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