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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. bear — the animal
  4. ball — a dance
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. kid — child
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. court — for sport
  9. shower — rain
  10. court — of a king
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. ball — a great time
  14. shower — to wash
  15. clip — a video
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. court — of law
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bear — the animal
  22. cell — in biology
  23. kid — to tease
  24. cell — a phone

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