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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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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: saw · bowl · leaves · file · land · pitcher · spring · tear

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. tear — to rip
  3. file — a document
  4. spring — a coil
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. file — a tool
  7. land — a country
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. spring — of water
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. tear — from crying
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. land — ground
  14. spring — the season
  15. land — to come down
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. tear — from crying
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. file — a line of people
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — the tool
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. bowl — to roll

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