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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: rash · fall · pop · drill · bulb · file · chest · land

  1. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. chest — of your body
  3. fall — the season
  4. fall — to drop
  5. rash — hasty
  6. land — ground
  7. bulb — for light
  8. chest — of your body
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. pop — music
  11. file — a tool
  12. bulb — for light
  13. drill — a practice
  14. land — to come down
  15. rash — a series
  16. chest — a box
  17. pop — soda
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a line of people
  20. fall — to drop
  21. pop — to visit
  22. drill — army training
  23. drill — the tool
  24. land — a country

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