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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 116 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. field — farmland
  3. clip — for paper
  4. scale — in music
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. bank — for money
  8. clip — a video
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. bulb — for light
  13. field — a subject
  14. race — the arms race
  15. cold — an illness
  16. scale — size or range
  17. race — a contest
  18. bank — of a river
  19. field — for sport
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. race — humankind
  23. clip — to cut
  24. bank — for money

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