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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 116 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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. cap — of ice
  3. court — of a king
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bulb — for light
  6. cap — a hat
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. game — a match
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. cap — a lid
  11. bulb — for light
  12. swing — in golf
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — the season
  16. swing — to play on
  17. spring — a coil
  18. court — for sport
  19. wake — a trail
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. court — of law
  22. swing — music
  23. game — wild animals
  24. wound — an injury

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