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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. saw — the tool
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. race — the arms race
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. cold — not warm
  11. chair — a leader
  12. ground — a position
  13. race — a contest
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. cold — an illness
  18. ground — crushed
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. ground — the earth
  21. saw — the tool
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. dip — to sink
  24. race — humankind

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