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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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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: pound · bowl · chip · rest · prune · roll · bore · cold

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. roll — a cake
  4. rest — what's left
  5. chip — for betting
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — to trim
  8. bore — to drill
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. bore — to tire
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rest — what's left
  18. roll — a list
  19. rest — a break
  20. chip — to eat
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. pound — a weight

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