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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. fine — all right
  3. race — a contest
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. bark — to shout
  11. land — ground
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. fine — high quality
  17. prune — to trim
  18. race — the arms race
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. land — a country
  21. game — a match
  22. race — humankind
  23. land — to come down
  24. game — wild animals

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