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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: craft · wax · press · content · bat · board · cold · rush

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. craft — a skill
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. cold — not warm
  6. press — to push
  7. bat — the animal
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. wax — to grow
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. press — newspapers
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. press — a publisher
  16. content — happy
  17. board — a committee
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. rush — hurry
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. content — the amount
  22. cold — an illness
  23. board — to get on
  24. bat — in an idiom

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