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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 · bowl · march · straw · wake · degree · capital · kid

  1. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. kid — to tease
  4. kid — child
  5. wake — a trail
  6. march — the month
  7. capital — money
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. march — the month
  11. capital — a city
  12. bulb — for light
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — from a university
  20. bulb — for light
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. degree — temperature
  23. march — music
  24. straw — dry grass

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