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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mate — a friend
  3. mug — to rob
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. mug — a cup
  8. band — a ring
  9. bear — the animal
  10. mate — a partner
  11. bark — to shout
  12. mate — to breed
  13. mug — a face
  14. band — a music group
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bear — the animal

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