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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. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. shower — to wash
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bulb — for light
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. scale — in music
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. shower — rain
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. clip — to cut
  13. capital — money
  14. scale — size or range
  15. present — a gift
  16. clip — a video
  17. capital — a city
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. present — there
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. present — the time now
  23. clip — for paper
  24. chair — a leader

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