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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. bulb — for light
  3. band — a music group
  4. club — a group
  5. cold — an illness
  6. squash — to crush
  7. plane — a tool
  8. clip — a video
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. clip — for paper
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. squash — the sport
  15. band — a ring
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. clip — to cut
  18. club — for dancing
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. club — for golf
  21. dip — to sink
  22. bulb — for light
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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