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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. track — a path
  3. track — to keep track
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. wind — moving air
  6. scale — in music
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. content — the amount
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. scale — size or range
  12. content — happy
  13. bore — to drill
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. file — a line of people
  16. wind — moving air
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. bore — to tire
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a document
  24. track — a song

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