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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: degree · rash · cell · club · craft · bear · net · cold

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. net — after costs
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. degree — from a university
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. rash — a series
  7. net — in sport
  8. cell — a phone
  9. craft — boats
  10. craft — a skill
  11. club — a group
  12. bear — the animal
  13. club — for golf
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. cold — not warm
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cell — in biology
  18. club — for dancing
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. rash — hasty
  21. degree — temperature
  22. net — for catching
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bear — the animal

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