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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. rash — hasty
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. bore — to tire
  6. bear — the animal
  7. tear — from crying
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. rash — a series
  10. cold — an illness
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. net — in sport
  13. bore — to drill
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. row — a line
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. net — after costs
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. bear — the animal
  20. cold — not warm
  21. row — to paddle
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. net — for catching

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