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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  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. spell — a short time
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bulb — for light
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. fine — all right
  7. kid — child
  8. kid — to tease
  9. spell — magic
  10. bulb — of a plant
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. press — to push
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. fine — high quality
  15. capital — a city
  16. press — a publisher
  17. cold — not warm
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. spell — letters
  21. bulb — for light
  22. capital — money
  23. press — newspapers
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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