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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. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. row — a line
  7. track — a song
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. tear — to rip
  11. fall — to drop
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. fall — to drop
  14. row — to paddle
  15. tear — from crying
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. shower — to wash
  18. track — a path
  19. bear — the animal
  20. track — to keep track
  21. shower — rain
  22. tear — from crying
  23. fall — the season
  24. cold — not warm

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