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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. spell — magic
  3. spell — a short time
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bear — the animal
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. net — after costs
  9. pop — to visit
  10. pop — music
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. pop — soda
  13. spell — letters
  14. march — music
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. bear — the animal
  17. snap — to click
  18. net — in sport
  19. march — the month
  20. net — for catching
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bulb — for light

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