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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 116 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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. cold — an illness
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bear — the animal
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. content — happy
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. content — the amount
  12. march — music
  13. tear — to rip
  14. march — the month
  15. march — the month
  16. wake — a trail
  17. tube — the underground
  18. pound — a weight
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. tube — a container
  21. tear — from crying
  22. bear — the animal
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. content — videos and posts

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