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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. spring — the season
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. race — the arms race
  5. game — wild animals
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bass — low music
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. bark — to shout
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. race — a contest
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. content — the amount
  16. row — a line
  17. spring — a coil
  18. content — happy
  19. race — humankind
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. game — a match
  22. row — to paddle
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. spring — of water

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