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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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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: press · craft · land · bat · cold · race

  1. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. press — to push
  3. cold — not warm
  4. land — a country
  5. craft — a skill
  6. race — a contest
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. craft — boats
  9. land — ground
  10. race — the arms race
  11. bat — the animal
  12. press — a publisher
  13. land — to come down
  14. press — newspapers
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. race — humankind
  18. cold — the Cold War

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