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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  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. bear — the animal
  2. content — happy
  3. file — a document
  4. hand — help
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. march — the month
  7. march — the month
  8. file — a tool
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. pass — a permit
  11. kid — child
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. bear — the animal
  15. hand — in cards
  16. file — a line of people
  17. content — the amount
  18. march — music
  19. dip — to sink
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. kid — to tease
  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