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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 124 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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. current — electric
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. current — of water
  6. land — a country
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. land — to come down
  9. bulb — for light
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — to wash
  12. chest — a box
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. land — ground
  16. degree — temperature
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — of your body
  19. degree — from a university
  20. degree — an amount
  21. branch — a division
  22. shower — rain
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. current — happening now

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