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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. ground — a position
  3. march — the month
  4. march — music
  5. spring — of water
  6. pass — a permit
  7. content — happy
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. spring — the season
  10. march — the month
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. bear — the animal
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. cap — a hat
  15. bear — the animal
  16. ground — crushed
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cap — a lid
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. content — the amount
  21. ground — the earth
  22. cap — of ice
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. dip — to sink

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