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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. capital — a city
  4. pop — soda
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. pop — music
  10. fall — to drop
  11. pop — to visit
  12. kid — child
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. capital — money
  17. fall — to drop
  18. kid — to tease
  19. fall — the season
  20. sharp — clever
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. dip — to sink

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