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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 120 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: bulb · spring · chest · cell · bat · shower · club · field

  1. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. spring — a coil
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. field — a subject
  5. shower — rain
  6. bulb — for light
  7. chest — of your body
  8. shower — to wash
  9. field — farmland
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. club — a group
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. spring — of water
  15. club — for dancing
  16. field — for sport
  17. cell — a phone
  18. chest — a box
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. club — for golf
  21. spring — the season
  22. bat — the animal
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cell — in biology

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