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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. object — an aim
  3. object — to protest
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. scale — in music
  7. object — a thing
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. capital — a city
  10. land — to come down
  11. mark — a grade
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. scale — size or range
  14. chest — of your body
  15. mark — a trace
  16. cold — an illness
  17. capital — money
  18. chest — a box
  19. land — ground
  20. land — a country
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — not warm
  23. chest — of your body
  24. bulb — of a plant

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