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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: bat · chair · bound · fan · date · bulb · spring · field

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. bulb — for light
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. field — farmland
  6. bulb — for light
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. spring — of water
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. spring — a coil
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bound — obliged
  14. field — a subject
  15. date — the fruit
  16. field — for sport
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bound — certain
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. bound — tied together
  23. spring — the season
  24. date — on the calendar

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