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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. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. swing — in golf
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. degree — an amount
  6. race — humankind
  7. band — a music group
  8. wake — a trail
  9. race — the arms race
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. perch — the fish
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. degree — from a university
  18. swing — music
  19. degree — temperature
  20. race — a contest
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. deal — to handle
  23. band — a ring
  24. swing — to play on

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