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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. tear — from crying
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. shower — rain
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. saw — the tool
  12. saw — the tool
  13. bulb — for light
  14. tear — from crying
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. tear — to rip
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. rush — hurry
  19. shower — to wash
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bulb — for light
  24. mine — for digging

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