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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bear — the animal
  3. clip — for paper
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. fall — the season
  6. spell — magic
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bark — to shout
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. fall — to drop
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bear — the animal
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. stand — to bear
  15. spell — letters
  16. clip — a video
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. fall — to drop
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. spell — a short time

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