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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 124 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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wave · club · cold · drill · bowl · cell · season · mine

  1. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. club — for dancing
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. mine — for digging
  7. club — for golf
  8. cell — in biology
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. club — a group
  13. season — in sport
  14. drill — the tool
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. cell — a phone
  17. season — of the year
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. drill — a practice
  23. drill — army training
  24. bowl — to roll

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