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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. cold — an illness
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. scale — size or range
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. scale — in music
  11. mine — for digging
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. game — wild animals
  16. tear — to rip
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. bear — the animal
  19. tear — from crying
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bear — the animal
  22. tear — from crying
  23. game — a match
  24. calf — of the leg

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