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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. snap — to click
  5. spring — of water
  6. tear — from crying
  7. bulb — for light
  8. tear — to rip
  9. object — an aim
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. kick — in football
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bulb — for light
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. spring — the season
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. object — to protest
  22. tear — from crying
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. object — a thing

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