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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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. bowl — to roll
  4. last — final
  5. cold — an illness
  6. field — farmland
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. field — a subject
  10. ball — a dance
  11. rest — what's left
  12. last — finally
  13. bulb — for light
  14. last — to go on
  15. field — for sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. wax — to grow
  19. rest — what's left
  20. bulb — for light
  21. ball — a great time
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. ball — a round shape

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