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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bowl · pound · bear · cold · spring · game · roll · pitcher

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. roll — a list
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. game — wild animals
  6. spring — a coil
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. bear — the animal
  10. game — a match
  11. spring — of water
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pound — a weight
  15. bear — the animal
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. spring — the season
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. roll — a cake
  24. bear — to put up with

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