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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 116 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: cell · degree · march · content · tear · pop · bear · land

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  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. content — the amount
  3. land — a country
  4. march — the month
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. pop — to visit
  7. bear — the animal
  8. cell — in biology
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. land — ground
  11. tear — to rip
  12. march — the month
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — an amount
  15. land — to come down
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. bear — the animal
  18. tear — from crying
  19. pop — soda
  20. tear — from crying
  21. pop — music
  22. march — music
  23. cell — a phone
  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