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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 · fork · cold · wind · march · coach · tear · track

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. bear — the animal
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. track — to keep track
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. march — the month
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. march — music
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. track — a path
  12. track — a song
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. cold — not warm
  21. tear — from crying
  22. march — the month
  23. fork — in a road
  24. tear — to rip

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