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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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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. file — a line of people
  4. land — ground
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. saw — the tool
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. spell — magic
  9. land — to come down
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a tool
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. squash — to crush
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. squash — the sport
  19. spell — a short time
  20. saw — the tool
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. spell — letters
  23. land — a country
  24. nail — on a finger

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