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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: plane · bowl · present · mate · march · cap · content · race

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. race — a contest
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. content — happy
  7. race — humankind
  8. content — the amount
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. present — a gift
  11. cap — a lid
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. cap — of ice
  14. mate — to breed
  15. cap — a hat
  16. present — there
  17. march — the month
  18. march — the month
  19. mate — a friend
  20. march — music
  21. race — the arms race
  22. present — the time now
  23. plane — a tool
  24. plane — an aircraft

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