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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: craft · toast · chest · stock · prune · sharp · cold · degree

  1. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. degree — from a university
  3. cold — an illness
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. degree — an amount
  6. craft — boats
  7. toast — bread
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. stock — shares
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — of your body
  17. prune — to trim
  18. sharp — clever
  19. stock — goods
  20. prune — to trim
  21. chest — a box
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. degree — temperature
  24. cold — not warm

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