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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: deal · snap · last · date · cold · bear · wound · spell

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. last — final
  3. spell — a short time
  4. last — to go on
  5. date — the fruit
  6. snap — to click
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. last — finally
  13. bear — the animal
  14. wound — an injury
  15. deal — to handle
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. spell — letters
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. spell — magic
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. bear — the animal
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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