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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. bore — to tire
  3. hand — in cards
  4. bulb — for light
  5. cold — an illness
  6. charge — in control
  7. band — a music group
  8. bulb — for light
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. charge — a price
  13. bore — to drill
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — help
  17. charge — electricity
  18. spring — the season
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. spring — of water
  22. band — a ring
  23. cold — not warm
  24. spring — a coil

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