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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. tube — a container
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. prune — to trim
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. game — wild animals
  14. file — a tool
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. game — a match
  18. tube — the underground
  19. squash — the sport
  20. stand — to bear
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. file — a document
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. squash — to crush

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