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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. tube — the underground
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. degree — temperature
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. degree — an amount
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. game — a match
  11. degree — from a university
  12. wound — an injury
  13. tube — a container
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. season — of the year
  16. bat — the animal
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. land — a country
  20. wound — an injury
  21. season — in sport
  22. game — wild animals
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — ground

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