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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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. season — to add flavour
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. bat — the animal
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. cold — an illness
  9. present — a gift
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. present — there
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. season — of the year
  17. present — the time now
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. perch — the fish
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. season — in sport
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. bowl — to roll

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