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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: bowl · squash · clip · pitch · shower · season · cold · date

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. season — in sport
  5. date — the fruit
  6. squash — to crush
  7. clip — a video
  8. squash — the sport
  9. clip — for paper
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. cold — an illness
  12. season — of the year
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pitch — completely
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. shower — to wash

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