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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bulb — for light
  6. spring — a coil
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. board — a committee
  10. can — a tin
  11. march — the month
  12. degree — temperature
  13. cold — not warm
  14. march — the month
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bulb — for light
  17. can — a tin
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. spring — of water
  20. degree — an amount
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. can — to be able to
  23. spring — the season
  24. board — to get on

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