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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  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 — to roll
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. firm — a company
  4. shower — to wash
  5. game — a match
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. firm — decided
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. content — happy
  14. content — the amount
  15. game — wild animals
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — an injury
  22. firm — steady
  23. shower — rain
  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