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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cap — a lid
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. land — a country
  5. plane — a tool
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. perch — the fish
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. cap — of ice
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. land — ground
  18. cap — a hat
  19. wake — a trail
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. land — to come down
  23. branch — a division
  24. branch — of a bank

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