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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cell — in biology
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. bark — to shout
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. current — electric
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. current — happening now
  12. pass — a permit
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. cell — a phone
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. plane — a tool
  21. current — of water
  22. wake — a trail
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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