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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. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. pit — in a race
  6. file — a tool
  7. clip — to cut
  8. race — a contest
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. file — a document
  12. clip — a video
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. file — a line of people
  15. chest — of your body
  16. foot — a measure
  17. plane — a tool
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — a box
  20. clip — for paper
  21. pit — a hole
  22. race — humankind
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. race — the arms race

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