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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: bowl · row · patient · can · pop · dip · land · bat

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. land — ground
  3. can — a tin
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. can — to be able to
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. dip — to sink
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. can — a tin
  11. bat — the animal
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — a line
  14. pop — soda
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. pop — to visit
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. row — to paddle
  19. land — to come down
  20. pop — music
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. land — a country

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