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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. kid — child
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. ball — a dance
  5. present — the time now
  6. charge — a price
  7. present — there
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. shower — to wash
  10. charge — in control
  11. file — a tool
  12. charge — electricity
  13. kid — to tease
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. shower — rain
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. pitch — completely
  19. present — a gift
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. file — a line of people
  22. ball — a great time
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. file — a document

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