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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 · band · bay · tear · staff · stem · file · craft

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. My mare is ________________ in color.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. tear — from crying
  4. file — a tool
  5. file — a document
  6. craft — a skill
  7. staff — employees
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bay — a horse colour
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. staff — employees
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. band — a ring
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. cold — an illness
  18. band — a music group
  19. tear — to rip
  20. stem — to come from
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. staff — a stick
  23. tear — from crying
  24. file — a line of people

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