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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 124 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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: club · date · cold · bulb · race · present

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. race — humankind
  3. cold — an illness
  4. club — for dancing
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. present — a gift
  7. date — the fruit
  8. bulb — for light
  9. bulb — for light
  10. present — the time now
  11. present — there
  12. race — the arms race
  13. club — a group
  14. cold — not warm
  15. race — a contest
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. cold — the Cold War

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