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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I've got to change the light ________________.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. wind — moving air
  4. drill — the tool
  5. track — to keep track
  6. ball — a dance
  7. drill — army training
  8. ball — a great time
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. degree — an amount
  11. cold — not warm
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. drill — a practice
  15. wind — moving air
  16. degree — from a university
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. bulb — for light
  19. bulb — for light
  20. track — a path
  21. cold — an illness
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. degree — temperature
  24. cold — the Cold War

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