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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. season — in sport
  3. bound — obliged
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. cell — in biology
  6. game — wild animals
  7. game — a match
  8. bear — the animal
  9. season — of the year
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cell — a phone
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. bear — the animal
  16. bound — tied together
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bound — certain

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