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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. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. rock — music
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. spell — a short time
  6. march — music
  7. rock — a stone
  8. cold — not warm
  9. march — the month
  10. spell — magic
  11. march — the month
  12. clip — a video
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. bear — the animal
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. wound — an injury
  19. clip — to cut
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. wound — an injury
  22. pound — a weight
  23. spell — letters
  24. cold — an illness

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