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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. staff — employees
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. spring — the season
  6. pitch — completely
  7. cell — in biology
  8. staff — employees
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — for paper
  11. staff — a stick
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. spring — a coil
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. clip — to cut
  16. hand — in cards
  17. spring — of water
  18. cell — a phone
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. hand — help

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