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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. present — a gift
  4. spring — of water
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. bulb — for light
  7. cap — of ice
  8. present — the time now
  9. chest — of your body
  10. drill — the tool
  11. drill — army training
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bulb — for light
  14. spring — a coil
  15. cap — a lid
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. drill — a practice
  18. present — there
  19. band — a ring
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. band — a music group
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. chest — a box
  24. spring — the season

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