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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. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. cold — an illness
  3. capital — money
  4. capital — a city
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wind — moving air
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — a subject
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. wind — moving air
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. field — farmland
  15. shower — to wash
  16. pound — a weight
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. craft — boats
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. craft — a skill
  23. shower — rain
  24. pound — to hit hard

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