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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cell — in biology
  3. clip — for paper
  4. mine — for digging
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. degree — from a university
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. clip — to cut
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. degree — temperature
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. clip — a video
  19. degree — an amount
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. cell — a phone
  24. wave — with your hand

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