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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 124 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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. perch — the fish
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. field — a subject
  6. content — happy
  7. field — for sport
  8. content — the amount
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. pound — a weight
  11. game — wild animals
  12. game — a match
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. field — farmland
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. rush — hurry
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. rush — a thrill

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