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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. bear — the animal
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. branch — a division
  8. bear — the animal
  9. clip — for paper
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. court — of a king
  12. cell — in biology
  13. file — a tool
  14. clip — a video
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. scale — size or range
  17. court — of law
  18. file — a line of people
  19. court — for sport
  20. scale — in music
  21. clip — to cut
  22. cell — a phone
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. file — a document

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