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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pound — a weight
  4. staff — employees
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. staff — employees
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. file — a tool
  10. degree — an amount
  11. file — a line of people
  12. cold — not warm
  13. file — a document
  14. degree — from a university
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. degree — temperature
  19. staff — a stick
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. mine — for digging

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