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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. bulb — for light
  4. spell — magic
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cell — in biology
  7. last — finally
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. bulb — for light
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. mine — for digging
  19. cell — a phone
  20. last — to go on
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. spell — a short time
  24. spell — letters

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