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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. land — to come down
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. fork — in a road
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. cell — a phone
  10. cell — in biology
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. hand — help
  13. hand — in cards
  14. mine — for digging
  15. kick — in football
  16. land — a country
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. land — ground
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. fork — to eat with

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