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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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Word bank
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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: prune · bulb · bass · key · wake · cold · face · field

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. bulb — for light
  3. field — for sport
  4. prune — to trim
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. key — for a lock
  8. field — farmland
  9. key — the most important part
  10. prune — to trim
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bulb — for light
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. face — to confront
  16. wake — a trail
  17. cold — an illness
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. bass — low music
  20. face — to point toward
  21. key — in music
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bass — the fish
  24. face — part of the head

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