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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: fork · plane · kid · clip · cold · bulb · present · spring

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. clip — for paper
  3. present — the time now
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. bulb — for light
  8. kid — child
  9. kid — to tease
  10. clip — to cut
  11. fork — in a road
  12. plane — a tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — not warm
  15. clip — a video
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. spring — of water
  19. present — there
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. spring — the season
  22. spring — a coil
  23. present — a gift
  24. bulb — for light

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