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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: game · capital · craft · kid · bark · root · chest · saw

  1. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. root — of a word
  3. chest — of your body
  4. game — wild animals
  5. saw — the tool
  6. bark — to shout
  7. saw — the tool
  8. chest — of your body
  9. craft — boats
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. capital — a city
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. root — of a plant
  15. kid — to tease
  16. capital — money
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. chest — a box
  20. game — a match
  21. kid — child
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. craft — a skill
  24. root — the cause

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