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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 muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. bulb — for light
  3. cold — an illness
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. rash — a series
  7. track — to keep track
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rash — hasty
  10. bulb — of a plant
  11. tear — to rip
  12. bulb — for light
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. pop — soda
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. track — a song
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. capital — money
  20. wake — a trail
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. capital — a city
  23. pop — music
  24. pop — to visit

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