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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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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 · can · fan · pound · cold · bat · rule · club

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. can — a tin
  3. can — a tin
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. rule — a law
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. club — for golf
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. rule — government
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. club — a group
  16. cold — not warm
  17. club — for dancing
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. can — to be able to
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. cold — an illness
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. pound — a weight

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