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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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. ground — a position
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. hand — in cards
  11. wind — moving air
  12. ground — the earth
  13. hand — help
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. ground — crushed
  19. scale — in music
  20. date — the fruit
  21. scale — size or range
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. wind — moving air
  24. racket — for tennis

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