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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. hand — help
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cap — of ice
  5. rest — what's left
  6. rule — a law
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rest — a break
  10. land — ground
  11. land — to come down
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. cap — a lid
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. rule — government
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. land — a country
  19. rest — what's left
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. cap — a hat
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. hand — in cards
  24. cold — the Cold War

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