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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. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  21. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wound — an injury
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. clip — a video
  16. bulb — for light
  17. clip — for paper
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. wound — an injury
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. safe — a strongbox
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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