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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. land — a country
  3. cold — not warm
  4. land — ground
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. ground — the earth
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. rash — hasty
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. rash — a series
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. row — a line
  13. ground — a position
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. kick — in football
  16. land — to come down
  17. ground — crushed
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. pass — a permit
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. row — to paddle
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. cold — an illness
  24. pass — to succeed

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