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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mine — for digging
  4. spring — the season
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. bulb — for light
  8. cold — not warm
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. bulb — for light
  11. spring — a coil
  12. cap — of ice
  13. net — in sport
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. court — for sport
  16. cap — a lid
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. net — after costs
  19. plane — a tool
  20. court — of law
  21. cap — a hat
  22. court — of a king
  23. spring — of water
  24. net — for catching

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