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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. mate — to breed
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. mate — a partner
  5. spell — magic
  6. chest — a box
  7. chest — of your body
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — a video
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bulb — for light
  12. club — for dancing
  13. wind — moving air
  14. club — a group
  15. mate — a friend
  16. club — for golf
  17. spell — letters
  18. land — to come down
  19. land — ground
  20. clip — for paper
  21. spell — a short time
  22. land — a country
  23. wind — moving air
  24. bulb — for light

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