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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: saw · fall · cold · file · squash · cell · jam · bowl

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. cell — a phone
  4. fall — to drop
  5. file — a document
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. saw — the tool
  8. squash — the sport
  9. fall — the season
  10. saw — the tool
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. cold — an illness
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. cell — in biology
  17. file — a tool
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. squash — to crush
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. fall — to drop
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bowl — a football final

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