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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: straw · court · cold · last · craft · file · rest · firm

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. cold — not warm
  3. file — a line of people
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. craft — a skill
  6. court — of a king
  7. file — a document
  8. rest — a break
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. firm — steady
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. court — of law
  13. rest — what's left
  14. craft — boats
  15. rest — what's left
  16. court — for sport
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. last — to go on
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. last — final
  21. last — finally
  22. firm — decided
  23. cold — an illness
  24. firm — a company

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