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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. content — the amount
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. cold — not warm
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. file — a tool
  8. content — happy
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. stem — to come from
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. cold — an illness
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. ground — crushed
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bear — the animal
  17. file — a document
  18. ground — the earth
  19. file — a line of people
  20. bear — the animal
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. lie — to recline
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. ground — a position

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