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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. bulb — for light
  3. root — of a word
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. degree — an amount
  7. clip — for paper
  8. field — a subject
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. field — farmland
  11. root — the cause
  12. field — for sport
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. clip — a video
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. degree — temperature
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. root — of a plant
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bowl — to roll
  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