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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. scale — size or range
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. net — in sport
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. capital — money
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. net — after costs
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. scale — in music
  17. mine — for digging
  18. capital — a city
  19. cold — an illness
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. rush — hurry
  23. net — for catching
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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