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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bulb · bark · file · season · bat · hide · kid · plane

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. kid — to tease
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bulb — for light
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. bulb — for light
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bark — to shout
  13. file — a document
  14. kid — child
  15. plane — a tool
  16. file — a line of people
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. file — a tool
  21. season — in sport
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. bulb — of a plant

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