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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. scale — size or range
  3. pit — a hole
  4. chair — a leader
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. spell — a short time
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bank — for money
  12. net — for catching
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. pit — in a race
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. net — in sport
  18. spell — letters
  19. net — after costs
  20. scale — in music
  21. bank — for money
  22. spell — magic
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bank — of a river

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