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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. last — to go on
  3. bear — the animal
  4. kid — child
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. branch — a division
  7. bear — the animal
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. mine — for digging
  11. degree — an amount
  12. last — final
  13. chest — of your body
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. chest — a box
  18. kid — to tease
  19. chest — of your body
  20. last — finally
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. degree — from a university
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. degree — temperature

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