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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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Word bank
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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: rule · capital · bore · pop · plane · chair · cell · bowl

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. cell — in biology
  4. pop — to visit
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. capital — a city
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. rule — government
  12. capital — money
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. chair — a leader
  15. bore — to drill
  16. pop — music
  17. cell — a phone
  18. rule — a law
  19. pop — soda
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. bore — to tire
  23. plane — a tool
  24. cell — in a prison

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