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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. rush — hurry
  3. bass — the fish
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. bass — low music
  6. file — a tool
  7. press — a publisher
  8. file — a document
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. file — a line of people
  12. press — newspapers
  13. shower — to wash
  14. press — to push
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. shower — rain
  18. bass — the instrument

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