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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: march · land · ruler · bore · bear · cold · spring · clip

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. spring — of water
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. clip — a video
  5. march — the month
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. land — ground
  8. spring — a coil
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bear — the animal
  11. land — a country
  12. march — the month
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. bore — to tire
  15. march — music
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bore — to drill
  18. land — to come down
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. spring — the season
  21. bear — the animal
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. clip — for paper

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