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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: content · drill · row · court · pop · cap · shower · bowl

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. content — the amount
  5. shower — to wash
  6. pop — soda
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. cap — of ice
  9. court — for sport
  10. pop — to visit
  11. shower — rain
  12. drill — the tool
  13. drill — army training
  14. pop — music
  15. row — a line
  16. drill — a practice
  17. court — of a king
  18. cap — a hat
  19. cap — a lid
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. row — to paddle
  24. court — of law

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