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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cold — an illness
  5. club — for dancing
  6. band — a ring
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of a king
  9. club — for golf
  10. drill — a practice
  11. hand — help
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. land — a country
  15. court — of law
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cap — of ice
  18. land — ground
  19. cold — not warm
  20. drill — army training
  21. land — to come down
  22. hand — in cards
  23. band — a music group
  24. club — a group

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