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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. march — the month
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. wax — to grow
  6. march — music
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. plane — a tool
  10. degree — from a university
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. degree — an amount
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — to wash
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — a subject
  18. degree — temperature
  19. march — the month
  20. field — for sport
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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