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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. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. clip — to cut
  3. fall — the season
  4. season — in sport
  5. spring — a coil
  6. season — of the year
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. pitch — completely
  10. clip — a video
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. spring — of water
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — to tease
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. fall — to drop
  20. spring — the season
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. bulb — for light
  23. fall — to drop
  24. clip — for paper

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