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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chest — of your body
  3. net — after costs
  4. net — in sport
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. chest — a box
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. race — humankind
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. prune — to trim
  11. cue — a hint
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cue — for pool
  14. cue — a signal
  15. bulb — for light
  16. bulb — for light
  17. race — the arms race
  18. prune — to trim
  19. race — a contest
  20. swing — in golf
  21. swing — to play on
  22. cold — an illness
  23. net — for catching
  24. swing — music

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