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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 116 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 · kid · scale · land · capital · chip · tear

  1. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. land — to come down
  3. kid — to tease
  4. spring — the season
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. chip — for betting
  8. capital — a city
  9. scale — in music
  10. capital — money
  11. land — a country
  12. tear — from crying
  13. spring — a coil
  14. bulb — for light
  15. land — ground
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. bulb — for light
  18. chip — to eat
  19. kid — child
  20. spring — of water
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — to rip
  24. scale — size or range

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