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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. ball — a great time
  4. kid — child
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. file — a document
  7. kid — to tease
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. ball — a dance
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. march — music
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. march — the month
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. plane — a tool
  20. deal — to handle
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a tool
  23. march — the month
  24. ball — a round shape

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