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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. plane — a tool
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. field — farmland
  6. content — the amount
  7. content — happy
  8. degree — from a university
  9. rest — a break
  10. degree — temperature
  11. rest — what's left
  12. shower — to wash
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. rest — what's left
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. shower — rain
  17. degree — an amount
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. wax — to grow
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. field — for sport
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. field — a subject

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