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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. board — to get on
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. shower — to wash
  5. bulb — for light
  6. cold — an illness
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. season — of the year
  9. spring — of water
  10. hand — help
  11. bulb — for light
  12. board — a committee
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. spring — a coil
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spring — the season
  19. bound — tied together
  20. bound — obliged
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. hand — in cards
  23. shower — rain
  24. bound — certain

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