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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. net — after costs
  5. cue — a hint
  6. rest — what's left
  7. game — wild animals
  8. rest — a break
  9. key — in music
  10. game — a match
  11. wind — moving air
  12. field — a subject
  13. net — in sport
  14. key — the most important part
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. field — farmland
  17. key — for a lock
  18. field — for sport
  19. net — for catching
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cue — for pool
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cue — a signal

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