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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. bear — the animal
  4. cold — an illness
  5. scale — size or range
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. chest — of your body
  11. wound — an injury
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. scale — in music
  14. chest — a box
  15. bear — the animal
  16. chest — of your body
  17. rush — hurry
  18. can — to be able to
  19. cold — not warm
  20. can — a tin
  21. can — a tin
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. stem — to come from
  24. wound — an injury

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