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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. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. bulb — for light
  3. tear — from crying
  4. net — after costs
  5. bulb — for light
  6. court — for sport
  7. last — finally
  8. court — of a king
  9. net — for catching
  10. cell — in biology
  11. present — a gift
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. kid — to tease
  14. last — final
  15. last — to go on
  16. tear — to rip
  17. present — there
  18. cell — a phone
  19. court — of law
  20. tear — from crying
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. kid — child
  23. net — in sport
  24. present — the time 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