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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: bowl · craft · race · plane · wound · cold · mouse · tear

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. craft — boats
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. craft — a skill
  8. wound — an injury
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. cold — not warm
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. wound — an injury
  15. race — a contest
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. tear — to rip
  18. tear — from crying
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — the arms race
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. plane — a tool
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. mouse — for a computer

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