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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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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: wake · game · shower · racket · pop · sharp · bowl · cold

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. game — a match
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. sharp — clever
  6. pop — soda
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. pop — to visit
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. shower — to wash
  14. pop — music
  15. shower — rain
  16. cold — not warm
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. cold — an illness
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. game — wild animals
  22. wake — a trail
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. game — a kind of play

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