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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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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 · cold · swing · chest · spring · cell · stand · wake

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. I've got to change the light ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. bulb — for light
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wake — a trail
  8. cell — in biology
  9. spring — of water
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. chest — a box
  15. spring — a coil
  16. swing — to play on
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. bulb — for light
  19. swing — music
  20. stand — to bear
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. swing — in golf
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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