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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitch — completely
  4. rash — hasty
  5. face — part of the head
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cold — an illness
  12. kid — child
  13. bulb — for light
  14. wound — an injury
  15. face — to point toward
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. wound — an injury
  18. kid — to tease
  19. rash — a series
  20. perch — the fish
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bulb — for light
  23. face — to confront
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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