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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: race · hand · bulb · bat · cold · wake · rest · clip

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bulb — for light
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wake — a trail
  6. rest — what's left
  7. race — the arms race
  8. hand — help
  9. race — a contest
  10. rest — what's left
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. clip — a video
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. cold — an illness
  16. race — humankind
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. cold — not warm
  19. rest — a break
  20. clip — for paper
  21. hand — in cards
  22. bulb — for light
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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