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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 116 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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. bulb — for light
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. spring — the season
  7. dip — to sink
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. branch — a division
  11. cold — not warm
  12. fall — the season
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. capital — a city
  17. fall — to drop
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. spring — of water
  20. bulb — for light
  21. cold — an illness
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. spring — a coil
  24. fall — to drop

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