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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. spring — a coil
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. bulb — for light
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. swing — to play on
  8. tube — a container
  9. fall — to drop
  10. shower — to wash
  11. swing — music
  12. lie — to recline
  13. bulb — for light
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — the season
  17. tube — the underground
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. swing — in golf
  21. cold — an illness
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. fall — to drop
  24. shower — rain

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