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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. bulb — for light
  3. clip — to cut
  4. fall — to drop
  5. clip — a video
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — a subject
  9. spell — a short time
  10. fall — the season
  11. field — farmland
  12. fall — to drop
  13. spell — magic
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. bulb — for light
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — a trail

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