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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 · cold · squash · bark · pit · nail · game · toast

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pit — in a race
  3. pit — a hole
  4. bark — to shout
  5. toast — bread
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. squash — to crush
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. game — a match
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. game — wild animals
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. squash — the sport
  21. toast — the most admired
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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