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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. land — ground
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wind — moving air
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. bear — the animal
  11. hand — help
  12. bear — the animal
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. land — to come down
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. hand — in cards
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. land — a country
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. lie — to recline
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. wind — moving air

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