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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 116 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: staff · cold · degree · mug · sharp · spring · cell · craft

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. sharp — clever
  3. staff — employees
  4. spring — of water
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. degree — temperature
  7. mug — a face
  8. spring — a coil
  9. craft — a skill
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. mug — a cup
  12. craft — boats
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — an amount
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. cell — a phone
  20. spring — the season
  21. mug — to rob
  22. staff — a stick
  23. cell — in biology
  24. staff — employees

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