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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. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. game — a match
  3. spring — of water
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bear — the animal
  7. chest — a box
  8. game — wild animals
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. chest — of your body
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. spring — the season
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. chest — of your body
  16. fall — the season
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spring — a coil
  23. fall — to drop
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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