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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. race — humankind
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. kid — child
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — of water
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. craft — a skill
  19. craft — boats
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. spring — a coil
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — a contest
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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