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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 · rush · mark · season · cold · date · content · current

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. season — in sport
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. season — of the year
  5. current — electric
  6. rush — hurry
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. date — the fruit
  9. cold — not warm
  10. current — of water
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. content — happy
  16. mark — a trace
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. mark — a grade
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. current — happening now
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. cold — an illness
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. content — the amount

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