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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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. plane — a tool
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. branch — a division
  10. bat — the animal
  11. cold — an illness
  12. root — of a plant
  13. band — a ring
  14. band — a music group
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. root — the cause
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. cold — not warm
  19. root — of a word
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. plane — in geometry

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