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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 124 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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. bear — the animal
  3. cold — an illness
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bear — the animal
  6. ground — crushed
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. cold — not warm
  10. fall — to drop
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. kid — child
  14. date — the fruit
  15. ground — a position
  16. ground — the earth
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. fall — to drop

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