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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 little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. degree — from a university
  4. march — music
  5. mine — for digging
  6. cold — an illness
  7. tear — to rip
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. tear — from crying
  10. club — for golf
  11. cell — in biology
  12. club — a group
  13. cold — not warm
  14. degree — an amount
  15. cell — a phone
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. march — the month
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. march — the month
  20. tear — from crying
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. degree — temperature
  23. club — for dancing
  24. 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