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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: spring · row · file · wave · craft · chest · calf · kid

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. craft — a skill
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. spring — the season
  7. chest — of your body
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. spring — of water
  10. chest — of your body
  11. kid — to tease
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. kid — child
  14. row — to paddle
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. row — a line
  17. file — a tool
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. chest — a box
  20. file — a line of people
  21. spring — a coil
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. file — a document

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