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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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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. object — to protest
  3. cold — not warm
  4. spell — letters
  5. kid — to tease
  6. object — a thing
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. spell — a short time
  9. last — finally
  10. cap — of ice
  11. spell — magic
  12. kid — child
  13. ball — a great time
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. cap — a lid
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. ball — a dance
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. cold — an illness
  22. last — final
  23. object — an aim
  24. last — to go on

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