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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cap — of ice
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. land — to come down
  7. land — a country
  8. capital — money
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. capital — a city
  14. field — for sport
  15. cap — a lid
  16. dip — to sink
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. land — ground
  19. cold — not warm
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. cap — a hat
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. 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