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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bear · bore · file · tear · kid · cold

  1. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. kid — child
  3. bore — to tire
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. bear — the animal
  7. tear — from crying
  8. file — a document
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. file — a tool
  13. bear — the animal
  14. tear — to rip
  15. bore — to drill
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. kid — to tease

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