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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 120 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: key · degree · craft · snap · bear · spell · trunk · cold

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. spell — a short time
  3. degree — an amount
  4. spell — letters
  5. craft — boats
  6. key — in music
  7. spell — magic
  8. degree — temperature
  9. craft — a skill
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. cold — an illness
  16. degree — from a university
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. key — for a lock
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. cold — not warm
  21. snap — to click
  22. bear — the animal
  23. bear — the animal
  24. craft — a handicraft

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