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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.

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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: craft · spring · calf · prune · file · cold · drill · sharp

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. craft — boats
  4. spring — a coil
  5. prune — to trim
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. file — a line of people
  8. sharp — clever
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. file — a tool
  12. drill — the tool
  13. file — a document
  14. drill — a practice
  15. prune — to trim
  16. drill — army training
  17. spring — the season
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. craft — a skill
  24. sharp — exactly

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