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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. wind — moving air
  3. rock — a stone
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. file — a line of people
  11. file — a tool
  12. cold — not warm
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. press — a publisher
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. press — newspapers
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. press — to push
  20. rock — music
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. pitch — completely
  23. file — a document
  24. cold — an illness

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