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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. wind — moving air
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. roll — a cake
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. roll — a list
  8. cold — an illness
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. lie — to recline
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. cell — a phone
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. cell — in biology
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. cold — not warm
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. kick — in football
  24. lie — an untruth

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