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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. scale — in music
  5. band — a ring
  6. ground — crushed
  7. chest — of your body
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. ground — a position
  10. chip — to eat
  11. band — a music group
  12. scale — size or range
  13. chest — a box
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. chip — for betting
  17. ground — the earth
  18. chip — in a computer

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