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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: drill · wind · bay · sharp · current · craft · straw · cold

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. cold — not warm
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. current — electric
  7. craft — boats
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. sharp — clever
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. current — happening now
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. drill — a practice
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. drill — the tool
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. drill — army training
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. current — of water
  24. craft — a skill

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