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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 120 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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. cap — a hat
  4. court — of law
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. degree — from a university
  7. bass — the fish
  8. content — the amount
  9. ground — the earth
  10. content — happy
  11. court — for sport
  12. bass — low music
  13. degree — an amount
  14. ground — crushed
  15. spring — the season
  16. cap — of ice
  17. ground — a position
  18. court — of a king
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. spring — of water
  22. degree — temperature
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. spring — a coil

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