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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 116 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 light ________________ burned out.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. spell — magic
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pound — a weight
  5. tear — to rip
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. spell — a short time
  8. wind — moving air
  9. clip — to cut
  10. spell — letters
  11. cold — not warm
  12. clip — for paper
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bulb — for light
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. clip — a video
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. tear — from crying
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. pound — for dogs

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