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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. pop — music
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. spell — a short time
  5. kid — to tease
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. spell — letters
  8. pop — soda
  9. spell — magic
  10. pop — to visit
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. kid — child
  13. bulb — for light
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. bulb — for light
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. date — the fruit
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. game — a match
  24. game — wild animals

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