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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 116 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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. shower — rain
  10. cold — an illness
  11. sharp — clever
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. spell — magic
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. spell — letters
  16. prune — to trim
  17. prune — to trim
  18. shower — to wash
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. spell — a short time
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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