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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. field — for sport
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. spell — letters
  6. clip — for paper
  7. fall — the season
  8. clip — a video
  9. bulb — for light
  10. shower — rain
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — a subject
  14. fall — to drop
  15. shower — to wash
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bulb — for light
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. spell — magic
  21. spell — a short time
  22. fall — to drop
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. cabinet — ministers

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