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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 120 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 · squash · hand · cell · bowl · pass · scale · rush

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. squash — the sport
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. wound — an injury
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. hand — help
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. cell — in biology
  11. rush — hurry
  12. scale — in music
  13. pass — a permit
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. cell — a phone
  16. wound — an injury
  17. scale — size or range
  18. hand — in cards
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. squash — to crush
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. squash — the vegetable

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