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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. rest — a break
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. rest — what's left
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. degree — from a university
  8. stock — goods
  9. swing — to play on
  10. stock — shares
  11. swing — music
  12. degree — temperature
  13. pitch — completely
  14. swing — in golf
  15. bass — the fish
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. degree — an amount
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bass — low music
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. cold — an illness
  24. rest — what's left

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