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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. cell — a phone
  3. court — of law
  4. bear — the animal
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. pound — a weight
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. lie — to recline
  9. bear — the animal
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. court — of a king
  18. degree — from a university
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cold — an illness
  21. court — for sport
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. degree — an amount
  24. pound — to hit hard

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