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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: race · sharp · craft · last · face · cold · game · trunk

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. sharp — clever
  4. game — a match
  5. cold — an illness
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. craft — boats
  10. race — the arms race
  11. face — part of the head
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. race — a contest
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. craft — a skill
  16. face — to point toward
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. cold — not warm
  20. game — wild animals
  21. last — to go on
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. race — humankind
  24. face — to confront

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