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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. content — happy
  3. bulb — for light
  4. bulb — for light
  5. kid — to tease
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. fall — the season
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. degree — from a university
  12. content — the amount
  13. rock — music
  14. fall — to drop
  15. capital — money
  16. rock — a stone
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — child
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. degree — an amount
  21. capital — a city
  22. fall — to drop
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. degree — temperature

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