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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  14. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. safe — a strongbox
  3. bear — the animal
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. shower — rain
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — an illness
  10. march — the month
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bear — the animal
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bark — to shout
  17. march — the month
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. march — music
  22. content — the amount
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. prune — to trim

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