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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cell · craft · row · straw · cold · fork

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. row — a line
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. cell — a phone
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. row — to paddle
  14. cold — not warm
  15. craft — a skill
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cold — an illness
  18. fork — in a road

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