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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. chair — a leader
  3. cold — an illness
  4. key — for a lock
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. present — a gift
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. bass — the fish
  11. craft — boats
  12. key — in music
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. present — the time now
  15. key — the most important part
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. mine — for digging
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. present — there
  21. cold — not warm
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. date — the fruit
  24. bass — low music

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