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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. rush — hurry
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. swing — to play on
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. lie — to recline
  15. wind — moving air
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. swing — music
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. swing — in golf
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. lie — an untruth

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