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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 120 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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. net — in sport
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. scale — size or range
  7. fine — high quality
  8. scale — in music
  9. fine — all right
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. march — music
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. season — in sport
  15. saw — the tool
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. season — of the year
  18. march — the month
  19. wound — an injury
  20. march — the month
  21. saw — the tool
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. net — after costs
  24. net — for catching

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