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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  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. mine — belonging to me
  3. mate — to breed
  4. track — a song
  5. bulb — for light
  6. saw — the tool
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. face — part of the head
  10. face — to point toward
  11. track — a path
  12. saw — the tool
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mate — a friend
  16. clip — for paper
  17. degree — temperature
  18. track — to keep track
  19. mate — a partner
  20. degree — from a university
  21. face — to confront
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. degree — an amount
  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