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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. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bat — the animal
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. row — to paddle
  10. kid — child
  11. present — a gift
  12. band — a ring
  13. present — the time now
  14. kid — to tease
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. cold — not warm
  19. sharp — clever
  20. row — a line
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bulb — for light
  23. band — a music group
  24. present — there

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