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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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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: snap · cell · pitcher · craft · court · prune · cold · wind

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. craft — a skill
  5. craft — boats
  6. court — for sport
  7. wind — moving air
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. court — of a king
  12. wind — moving air
  13. court — of law
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. prune — to trim
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. prune — to trim
  24. cell — a phone

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