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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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. spell — letters
  3. cold — not warm
  4. spell — a short time
  5. bulb — for light
  6. cold — an illness
  7. fall — the season
  8. spring — of water
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. season — of the year
  12. bulb — for light
  13. hand — help
  14. fall — to drop
  15. season — in sport
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spell — magic
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. spring — the season
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. fall — to drop
  23. date — the fruit
  24. hand — part of the body

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