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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: chair · land · bat · sharp · rash · pop · spring · craft

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. pop — music
  3. sharp — clever
  4. bat — the animal
  5. rash — hasty
  6. pop — to visit
  7. pop — soda
  8. land — ground
  9. rash — a series
  10. craft — boats
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. land — a country
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. chair — a leader
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. spring — the season
  20. land — to come down
  21. spring — of water
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. spring — a coil
  24. craft — a skill

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