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

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. cold — not warm
  6. shower — rain
  7. cold — an illness
  8. capital — a city
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. capital — money
  12. bulb — for light
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — a video
  15. present — the time now
  16. clip — for paper
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. present — a gift
  20. tube — a container
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. shower — to wash
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. tube — the underground

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