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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cell — a phone
  5. march — the month
  6. wake — a trail
  7. march — the month
  8. march — music
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. cell — in biology
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. bear — the animal
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. plane — a tool
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. bear — the animal

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