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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. spring — a coil
  4. land — to come down
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. land — a country
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. scale — size or range
  11. bulb — for light
  12. bulb — for light
  13. spring — the season
  14. wax — to grow
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. spring — of water
  17. charge — a price
  18. charge — electricity
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. charge — in control
  23. scale — in music
  24. wind — moving air

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