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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. fall — to drop
  3. spring — a coil
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. fall — to drop
  6. spring — the season
  7. swing — in golf
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. pop — soda
  10. ground — the earth
  11. swing — to play on
  12. drill — the tool
  13. ground — a position
  14. spring — of water
  15. pop — music
  16. drill — a practice
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — temperature
  19. swing — music
  20. ground — crushed
  21. degree — an amount
  22. fall — the season
  23. drill — army training
  24. pop — to visit

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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