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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 116 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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. game — wild animals
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. land — to come down
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. land — a country
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — moving air
  12. pitch — completely
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. rush — hurry
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. press — newspapers
  17. game — a match
  18. press — a publisher
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. land — ground
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. press — to push
  24. bat — for baseball

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