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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: cold · race · cue · court · straw · march · stick · craft

  1. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. cue — a hint
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. march — the month
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cue — for pool
  7. march — music
  8. craft — boats
  9. cold — an illness
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. cue — a signal
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. court — of a king
  15. race — humankind
  16. race — a contest
  17. court — of law
  18. cold — not warm
  19. court — for sport
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. craft — a skill
  22. march — the month
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. race — the arms race

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