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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 116 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: kick · field · cold · tear · coach · craft

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. craft — a skill
  3. cold — an illness
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — farmland
  6. kick — in football
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. tear — to rip
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. cold — not warm
  14. field — for sport
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. coach — a trainer

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