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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. spring — a coil
  3. cold — not warm
  4. craft — boats
  5. net — in sport
  6. cold — an illness
  7. net — after costs
  8. last — finally
  9. tube — a container
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. tube — the underground
  12. spring — the season
  13. last — to go on
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. hand — help
  16. net — for catching
  17. spring — of water
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. last — final
  21. craft — a skill
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. straw — a straw man

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