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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. row — a line
  3. staff — employees
  4. race — a contest
  5. rule — government
  6. content — happy
  7. row — to paddle
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. race — the arms race
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. rule — a law
  17. staff — employees
  18. mine — for digging
  19. dip — to sink
  20. staff — a stick
  21. race — humankind
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. content — the amount
  24. bowl — a football final

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