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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. field — farmland
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. bulb — for light
  6. prune — to trim
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. stock — shares
  9. ground — crushed
  10. ground — the earth
  11. wind — moving air
  12. shower — to wash
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. branch — a division
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. bulb — for light
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. shower — rain
  20. ground — a position
  21. stock — goods
  22. prune — to trim
  23. field — a subject
  24. field — for sport

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