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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: cold · craft · wave · pass · last · club · clip · ball

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ball — a great time
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. craft — a skill
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. club — for dancing
  9. last — to go on
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. club — a group
  14. pass — a permit
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. craft — boats
  20. cold — an illness
  21. club — for golf
  22. clip — to cut
  23. last — finally
  24. ball — a dance

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