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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. lean — thin
  3. spell — magic
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. game — wild animals
  6. rest — what's left
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. spell — letters
  9. cap — of ice
  10. rest — a break
  11. spell — a short time
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. kid — to tease
  15. kid — child
  16. cap — a hat
  17. lean — to bend
  18. land — a country
  19. rest — what's left
  20. land — ground
  21. cap — a lid
  22. land — to come down
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. game — a match

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