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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. wind — moving air
  3. row — a line
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. deal — to handle
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. row — to paddle
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. hand — help
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. wound — an injury
  19. hand — in cards
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. hide — animal skin

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