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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 120 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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. field — a subject
  3. cell — a phone
  4. field — farmland
  5. present — a gift
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. bulb — for light
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. present — there
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. field — for sport
  12. prune — to trim
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. chest — a box
  16. clip — a video
  17. prune — to trim
  18. chest — of your body
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bulb — for light
  21. present — the time now
  22. clip — to cut
  23. cell — in biology
  24. chest — of your body

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