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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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468
Word bank
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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stem — to come from
  3. bear — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. ground — crushed
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. fork — in a road
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. cold — an illness
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. ground — the earth
  14. bound — certain
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. chest — a box
  17. cell — a phone
  18. ground — a position
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bound — obliged
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. bear — the animal
  24. bound — tied together

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