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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. row — a line
  3. pit — a hole
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. pop — music
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. ball — a great time
  9. ball — a dance
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. root — of a word
  12. cold — an illness
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. pit — in a race
  15. lie — to recline
  16. row — to paddle
  17. cell — in biology
  18. pop — to visit
  19. pop — soda
  20. cold — not warm
  21. root — the cause
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. root — of a plant

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