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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bulb — for light
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. row — a line
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. cell — a phone
  10. land — to come down
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cold — not warm
  14. land — ground
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. chair — a leader
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. drill — army training
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. mine — for digging
  21. drill — the tool
  22. cell — in biology
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. land — a country

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