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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: wound · bowl · bass · dip · game · march · cold · pitcher

  1. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wound — an injury
  5. game — a match
  6. wound — an injury
  7. march — music
  8. march — the month
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. march — the month
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. cold — an illness
  18. dip — to sink
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. bass — the fish
  22. game — wild animals
  23. bass — low music
  24. bowl — a dish

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