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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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Word bank
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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 · march · face · cold · branch · present

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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 — not warm
  3. march — the month
  4. march — the month
  5. branch — a division
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bear — the animal
  8. present — there
  9. march — music
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. face — to confront
  12. face — part of the head
  13. present — a gift
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. bear — the animal
  16. present — the time now
  17. face — to point toward
  18. branch — of a tree

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