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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: game · cap · bulb · shower · mine · bat · spell · tube

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. cap — of ice
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. spell — a short time
  6. game — wild animals
  7. cap — a lid
  8. spell — letters
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. spell — magic
  12. bulb — for light
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. game — a match
  15. tube — a container
  16. tube — the underground
  17. mine — for digging
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. cap — a hat
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. shower — to wash
  22. bulb — for light
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. shower — rain

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