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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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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 · craft · stick · rash · court · drill · band · row

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. band — a music group
  3. craft — a skill
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. drill — a practice
  6. court — of law
  7. craft — boats
  8. rash — hasty
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. court — for sport
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. rash — a series
  16. band — a ring
  17. row — a line
  18. cold — an illness
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. court — of a king
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. drill — the tool
  23. row — to paddle
  24. drill — army training

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