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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've got to change the light ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. mate — a friend
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. mate — to breed
  5. degree — from a university
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. mate — a partner
  9. face — to confront
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. bulb — for light
  12. cold — not warm
  13. face — part of the head
  14. lean — to bend
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. lean — thin
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cold — an illness
  22. degree — an amount
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. face — to point toward

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