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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. cold — an illness
  3. hand — in cards
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. spring — of water
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. net — after costs
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. hand — help
  11. cold — not warm
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. net — in sport
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. spring — the season
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. branch — a division
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. net — for catching

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