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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 ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. ground — the earth
  3. prune — to trim
  4. bore — to tire
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. ground — crushed
  10. fall — to drop
  11. track — a song
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. capital — money
  14. fall — to drop
  15. prune — to trim
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. capital — a city
  18. chair — a leader
  19. fall — the season
  20. ground — a position
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. track — a path
  23. bore — to drill
  24. track — to keep track

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