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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 water is too ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. spell — a short time
  3. bulb — for light
  4. chest — of your body
  5. swing — to play on
  6. spell — magic
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. swing — music
  11. court — for sport
  12. court — of law
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pop — to visit
  15. pop — soda
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bulb — for light
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. pop — music
  20. spell — letters
  21. chest — a box
  22. cell — a phone
  23. court — of a king
  24. swing — in golf

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