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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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. bear — the animal
  3. dip — to sink
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. field — for sport
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. field — farmland
  9. march — music
  10. last — to go on
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. march — the month
  14. bear — the animal
  15. last — finally
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — to cut
  18. toast — bread
  19. last — final
  20. march — the month
  21. field — a subject
  22. cold — an illness
  23. clip — a video
  24. cold — not warm

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