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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 116 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. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. hand — in cards
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. root — of a plant
  5. root — of a word
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. wind — moving air
  9. hand — help
  10. root — the cause
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. cold — not warm
  13. stand — to bear
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. bear — the animal
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. kid — to tease
  19. kid — child
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bat — the animal
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bear — to put up with

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