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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: club · nail · craft · cold · clip · tube · mate · track

  1. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. club — a group
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. mate — a partner
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. track — to keep track
  7. tube — a container
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. mate — a friend
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. club — for golf
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. clip — a video
  14. track — a song
  15. craft — boats
  16. tube — the underground
  17. cold — an illness
  18. clip — to cut
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. cold — not warm
  21. mate — to breed
  22. clip — for paper
  23. track — a path
  24. club — for dancing

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