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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. mug — a cup
  5. mug — a face
  6. cap — a hat
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cap — a lid
  10. file — a document
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. pound — a weight
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. file — a tool
  16. cap — of ice
  17. bat — the animal
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — an injury
  23. mug — to rob
  24. bat — in an idiom

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