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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. fall — to drop
  3. season — of the year
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. cold — an illness
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. cold — not warm
  9. branch — a division
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. fall — the season
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. wake — a trail
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. row — to paddle
  17. fall — to drop
  18. plane — a tool
  19. season — in sport
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. row — a line

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