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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. field — for sport
  3. bulb — for light
  4. net — in sport
  5. spring — the season
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. roll — a list
  8. bulb — for light
  9. net — for catching
  10. roll — a cake
  11. net — after costs
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. rest — what's left
  14. rest — a break
  15. clip — for paper
  16. wax — to grow
  17. spring — of water
  18. field — a subject
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — a video
  22. rest — what's left
  23. field — farmland
  24. bulb — of a plant

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