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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: last · bowl · spring · chest · wind · pound · pitcher · fan

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. chest — of your body
  6. spring — the season
  7. spring — of water
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. pound — a weight
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. last — to go on
  14. last — final
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. last — finally
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. wind — moving air
  20. chest — of your body
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. chest — a box
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bowl — a dish

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