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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: rest · craft · saw · field · race · content · march · bass

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. race — a contest
  3. saw — the tool
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. saw — the tool
  7. craft — a skill
  8. field — a subject
  9. march — music
  10. content — the amount
  11. craft — boats
  12. rest — what's left
  13. march — the month
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. field — farmland
  16. race — humankind
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. rest — what's left
  19. race — the arms race
  20. rest — a break
  21. bass — the fish
  22. bass — low music
  23. field — for sport
  24. march — the month

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