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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. bank — for money
  3. spring — the season
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. bank — for money
  6. spring — a coil
  7. bear — the animal
  8. bank — of a river
  9. mine — for digging
  10. spring — of water
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. bat — the animal
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. cold — not warm

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