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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: ground · bulb · cabinet · cold · pit · spring · wind · coach

  1. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. ground — crushed
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. wind — moving air
  9. spring — a coil
  10. pit — in a race
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — of water
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bulb — for light
  16. bulb — for light
  17. ground — the earth
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pit — a hole
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. ground — a position
  24. cabinet — ministers

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