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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. file — a tool
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. field — farmland
  5. row — to paddle
  6. file — a document
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. root — of a plant
  9. root — the cause
  10. present — the time now
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. chip — to eat
  13. present — a gift
  14. root — of a word
  15. field — for sport
  16. file — a line of people
  17. field — a subject
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. row — a line
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. present — there
  22. shower — rain
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. chip — for betting

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