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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. cold — not warm
  4. land — ground
  5. mate — a friend
  6. cold — an illness
  7. track — a song
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. craft — a skill
  10. land — to come down
  11. track — to keep track
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. craft — boats
  14. wake — a trail
  15. track — a path
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. field — for sport
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. mate — to breed
  20. mate — a partner
  21. field — a subject
  22. field — farmland
  23. land — a country
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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