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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. mark — a trace
  4. race — the arms race
  5. race — humankind
  6. cap — a hat
  7. race — a contest
  8. cap — of ice
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. spring — of water
  12. clip — a video
  13. mark — a grade
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. cap — a lid
  17. spring — the season
  18. clip — to cut
  19. drill — the tool
  20. drill — a practice
  21. pitch — completely
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. drill — army training
  24. spring — a coil

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