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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. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. mine — for digging
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. fall — the season
  5. last — to go on
  6. fall — to drop
  7. last — final
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. tube — a container
  10. fall — to drop
  11. root — of a word
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. cold — an illness
  14. root — of a plant
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. bulb — for light
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. last — finally
  20. tube — the underground
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cold — not warm
  23. root — the cause
  24. wound — an injury

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