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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. pop — soda
  3. swing — to play on
  4. spell — a short time
  5. pop — music
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. net — for catching
  8. row — a line
  9. cap — of ice
  10. pop — to visit
  11. spring — the season
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. swing — in golf
  14. cap — a hat
  15. spell — magic
  16. spell — letters
  17. swing — music
  18. spring — a coil
  19. spring — of water
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. cap — a lid
  22. net — after costs
  23. net — in sport
  24. row — to paddle

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