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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. last — to go on
  7. last — finally
  8. spring — of water
  9. spring — the season
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. last — final
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. wind — moving air
  20. cold — an illness
  21. spring — a coil
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. wind — moving air

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