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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. drill — army training
  3. prune — to trim
  4. capital — a city
  5. game — wild animals
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. capital — money
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — the tool
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. track — a song
  18. pound — a weight
  19. track — to keep track
  20. prune — to trim
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. track — a path
  24. game — a match

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