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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. field — for sport
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. field — a subject
  7. roll — a list
  8. spell — a short time
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spell — magic
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cell — a phone
  14. spell — letters
  15. fine — high quality
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. fine — all right
  18. roll — a cake
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. cell — in biology
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. field — farmland

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