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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. game — a match
  4. field — farmland
  5. tube — the underground
  6. band — a ring
  7. field — a subject
  8. spell — letters
  9. band — a music group
  10. field — for sport
  11. content — happy
  12. spell — magic
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. tube — a container
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — a trail
  19. content — the amount
  20. spell — a short time
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. game — wild animals
  24. tube — in a tire

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