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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pop — music
  8. prune — to trim
  9. race — humankind
  10. pop — to visit
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. race — the arms race
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. pop — soda
  16. prune — to trim
  17. hand — in cards
  18. cold — an illness
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. race — a contest

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