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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bulb — for light
  3. net — in sport
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. object — an aim
  7. net — after costs
  8. race — humankind
  9. object — to protest
  10. date — the fruit
  11. object — a thing
  12. shower — rain
  13. race — a contest
  14. land — to come down
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. race — the arms race
  18. land — a country
  19. kid — child
  20. net — for catching
  21. bulb — for light
  22. land — ground
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. date — on the calendar

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