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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. file — a line of people
  3. file — a tool
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. game — a match
  6. file — a document
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. shower — to wash
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. game — wild animals
  11. shower — rain
  12. hand — help
  13. cap — of ice
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. hand — in cards
  16. cap — a lid
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. wax — to grow

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