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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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. scale — in music
  3. scale — size or range
  4. snap — to click
  5. field — farmland
  6. stem — to come from
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. pop — soda
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — to rip
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. field — a subject
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. pop — music
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. field — for sport
  20. pop — to visit
  21. dip — to sink
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. tear — from crying

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