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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. bulb — for light
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. rash — hasty
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. rash — a series
  11. bulb — for light
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. pitch — completely
  14. shower — rain
  15. spring — a coil
  16. capital — a city
  17. bat — the animal
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. spring — the season
  21. shower — to wash
  22. spring — of water
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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