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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. pound — a weight
  6. last — to go on
  7. degree — temperature
  8. row — a line
  9. degree — from a university
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. rush — hurry
  13. content — the amount
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. row — to paddle
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. last — final
  21. wound — an injury
  22. last — finally
  23. content — happy
  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