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

Word bank: race · band · toast · craft · cold · present

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. present — a gift
  3. craft — boats
  4. cold — an illness
  5. race — the arms race
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. band — a music group
  10. craft — a skill
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. band — a ring
  14. present — the time now
  15. cold — not warm
  16. present — there
  17. race — humankind
  18. race — a contest

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