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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 120 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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. tube — a container
  3. tube — the underground
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. swing — in golf
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. degree — an amount
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. swing — to play on
  13. degree — from a university
  14. sharp — clever
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. swing — music
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. degree — temperature
  20. cell — a phone
  21. stem — to come from
  22. cell — in biology
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. bat — the animal

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