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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. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. net — in sport
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. net — after costs
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bulb — for light
  11. scale — size or range
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. cold — an illness
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. net — for catching
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. scale — in music
  24. cold — not warm

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