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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. land — ground
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. pitch — completely
  12. ground — crushed
  13. chest — a box
  14. branch — a division
  15. ground — the earth
  16. root — of a plant
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. root — the cause
  19. root — of a word
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. ground — a position
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — a country

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