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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. pit — a hole
  3. hand — help
  4. land — ground
  5. file — a tool
  6. land — a country
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. hand — in cards
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. file — a document
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. land — to come down
  17. pit — in a race
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. file — a line of people

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