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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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. capital — a city
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. plane — a tool
  6. mine — for digging
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. prune — to trim
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. row — a line
  14. bulb — for light
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. prune — to trim
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. capital — money
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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