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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cell — a phone
  3. tube — the underground
  4. mate — to breed
  5. rush — hurry
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. tear — from crying
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — after costs
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. mate — a friend
  13. tear — from crying
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. cell — in biology
  17. branch — a division
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. tear — to rip
  20. mate — a partner
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. net — in sport
  24. tube — a container

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