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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: bear · cold · spell · fine · march · rest · file · snap

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. rest — what's left
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rest — what's left
  6. march — the month
  7. spell — magic
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. snap — to click
  10. fine — high quality
  11. fine — all right
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. file — a line of people
  14. rest — a break
  15. spell — a short time
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bear — the animal
  18. file — a tool
  19. spell — letters
  20. file — a document
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. march — the month
  24. bear — the animal

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