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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 116 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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. snap — to click
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. face — part of the head
  5. bulb — for light
  6. field — for sport
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. spell — magic
  9. spell — letters
  10. field — farmland
  11. present — there
  12. face — to confront
  13. bore — to drill
  14. face — to point toward
  15. degree — from a university
  16. bulb — for light
  17. bore — to tire
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. present — the time now
  21. field — a subject
  22. degree — temperature
  23. spell — a short time
  24. degree — an amount

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