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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: land · bulb · ball · chair · spring · kid · band · net

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. chair — a leader
  5. band — a music group
  6. ball — a dance
  7. spring — a coil
  8. net — in sport
  9. kid — to tease
  10. ball — a great time
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. bulb — for light
  13. land — a country
  14. spring — of water
  15. land — ground
  16. net — for catching
  17. land — to come down
  18. spring — the season
  19. bulb — for light
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. band — a ring
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. net — after costs
  24. kid — child

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