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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 116 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: ball · bowl · lash · bear · file · rock · wind · cold

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. cold — not warm
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. rock — music
  8. rock — a stone
  9. cold — an illness
  10. ball — a dance
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bear — the animal
  15. file — a document
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bear — the animal
  21. file — a tool
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. file — a line of people

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