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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. shower — rain
  3. chip — to eat
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. cold — an illness
  6. capital — a city
  7. shower — to wash
  8. bulb — for light
  9. capital — money
  10. row — a line
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. spring — the season
  13. spring — a coil
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. bulb — for light
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. chip — for betting
  23. spring — of water
  24. row — to paddle

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