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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. prune — to trim
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. ground — crushed
  7. prune — to trim
  8. race — a contest
  9. net — after costs
  10. race — humankind
  11. wind — moving air
  12. net — for catching
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. net — in sport
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. ground — a position
  21. wind — moving air
  22. ground — the earth
  23. race — the arms race
  24. sharp — clever

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