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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. bulb — for light
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. bulb — for light
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. clip — for paper
  14. branch — a division
  15. cold — not warm
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. clip — a video
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. clip — to cut
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cold — an illness
  24. perch — the fish

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