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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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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: fall · bear · lie · degree · content · pitcher · bound · march

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — temperature
  3. content — the amount
  4. bound — obliged
  5. fall — to drop
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. lie — to recline
  10. bound — certain
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. march — the month
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. bear — the animal
  16. march — the month
  17. degree — an amount
  18. bound — tied together
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. fall — the season
  21. bear — the animal
  22. fall — to drop
  23. march — music
  24. degree — from a university

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