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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 120 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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. pop — to visit
  3. bulb — for light
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. field — a subject
  9. bulb — for light
  10. cold — not warm
  11. perch — the fish
  12. field — farmland
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. field — for sport
  20. pop — music
  21. pop — soda
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. wake — a trail

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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