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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: field · cold · bulb · squash · hand · craft · shower · racket

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. squash — the sport
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. craft — a skill
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. craft — boats
  9. hand — help
  10. hand — in cards
  11. shower — to wash
  12. field — a subject
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. field — farmland
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. field — for sport
  17. bulb — for light
  18. shower — rain
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. squash — to crush
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bulb — for light
  24. racket — a loud noise

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