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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: straw · bass · cold · staff · field · craft · temple · deal

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. craft — boats
  4. field — farmland
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. field — a subject
  7. craft — a skill
  8. bass — low music
  9. staff — a stick
  10. staff — employees
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. cold — not warm
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. bass — the fish
  18. cold — an illness
  19. deal — to handle
  20. field — for sport
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. staff — employees

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