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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. shower — to wash
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. scale — in music
  5. bulb — for light
  6. scale — size or range
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — money
  10. present — the time now
  11. bulb — for light
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. spell — magic
  14. present — there
  15. spell — a short time
  16. shower — rain
  17. spell — letters
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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