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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. branch — a division
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. tear — from crying
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. bear — the animal
  9. foot — a measure
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. bear — the animal
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. pound — a weight
  16. degree — an amount
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. degree — from a university
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. tear — to rip
  24. degree — temperature

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