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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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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cold — not warm
  3. track — a song
  4. bound — certain
  5. bat — the animal
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. track — to keep track
  8. track — a path
  9. pit — a hole
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. bound — obliged
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. cold — an illness
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. saw — the tool
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. pit — in a race
  18. saw — the tool
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bound — tied together
  24. cold — the Cold War

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