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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. cell — in biology
  6. branch — a division
  7. fall — to drop
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. tear — to rip
  10. fall — to drop
  11. bulb — for light
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. bulb — for light
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cold — an illness
  16. race — the arms race
  17. race — humankind
  18. bear — the animal
  19. bear — the animal
  20. fall — the season
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. race — a contest
  24. cell — in a prison

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