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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rock — music
  3. branch — a division
  4. hand — in cards
  5. pass — a permit
  6. row — a line
  7. bulb — for light
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. hand — help
  12. court — of a king
  13. row — to paddle
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. court — of law
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. rock — a stone
  20. bulb — for light
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. court — for sport

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