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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. season — of the year
  5. saw — the tool
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — an injury
  9. clip — for paper
  10. ground — crushed
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. shower — to wash
  13. perch — the fish
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. saw — the tool
  16. clip — a video
  17. season — in sport
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. shower — rain
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. ground — a position
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. clip — to cut
  24. ground — the earth

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