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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 124 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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. prune — to trim
  3. land — a country
  4. mine — for digging
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. spring — of water
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. deal — to handle
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. kick — in football
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. prune — to trim
  15. spring — a coil
  16. land — ground
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. scale — in music
  21. spring — the season
  22. land — to come down
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. scale — size or range

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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