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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — from a university
  7. ground — crushed
  8. clip — a video
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. kid — to tease
  11. cold — not warm
  12. ground — the earth
  13. bulb — for light
  14. kid — child
  15. degree — an amount
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. saw — the tool
  18. ground — a position
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. clip — to cut
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. bulb — for light

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