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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: cold · wound · kid · shower · content · coach · craft · plane

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. kid — to tease
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. kid — child
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. content — happy
  8. wound — an injury
  9. plane — a tool
  10. craft — a skill
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wound — an injury
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. shower — rain
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. content — the amount
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. cold — an illness
  24. craft — boats

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