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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 120 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. hand — in cards
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. prune — to trim
  8. bear — the animal
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. prune — to trim
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. cold — not warm
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. cold — an illness
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. mine — for digging
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. bear — the animal

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