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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. march — the month
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. snap — to click
  5. cold — an illness
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. cell — a phone
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. foot — a measure
  12. bear — the animal
  13. root — the cause
  14. root — of a word
  15. cold — not warm
  16. march — music
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. cell — in biology
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. march — the month
  22. root — of a plant
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pitch — a sports field

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