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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. bear — the animal
  3. field — farmland
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. game — wild animals
  7. capital — money
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. capital — a city
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bear — the animal
  12. field — for sport
  13. cold — not warm
  14. stem — to come from
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. field — a subject
  21. game — a match
  22. cold — an illness
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. bark — to shout

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