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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. chest — of your body
  6. cell — a phone
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. chest — of your body
  9. dip — to sink
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. saw — the tool
  12. chest — a box
  13. last — to go on
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. last — final
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. rule — a law
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. last — finally
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cell — in biology
  24. rule — government

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