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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · court · season · tear · row · land · pitcher · pass

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. season — of the year
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. land — to come down
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. court — of law
  9. court — of a king
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. season — in sport
  14. pass — a permit
  15. land — ground
  16. row — to paddle
  17. land — a country
  18. court — for sport
  19. tear — from crying
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. row — a line

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