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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. bulb — for light
  4. spring — a coil
  5. degree — from a university
  6. pit — in a race
  7. land — ground
  8. cold — not warm
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bulb — for light
  11. capital — a city
  12. land — a country
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pit — a hole
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. spring — the season
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. spring — of water
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. cold — an illness
  23. degree — an amount
  24. land — to come down

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