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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 120 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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. scale — size or range
  3. last — finally
  4. scale — in music
  5. game — a match
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. stock — goods
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. stock — shares
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. last — final
  19. shower — rain
  20. game — wild animals
  21. last — to go on
  22. wound — an injury
  23. shower — to wash
  24. wound — an injury

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