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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. root — of a plant
  4. root — of a word
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. root — the cause
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. scale — in music
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. pound — a weight
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bear — the animal
  15. ball — a dance
  16. ball — a great time
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. track — to keep track
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. track — a path
  21. track — a song
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. scale — size or range

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