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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. My mare is ________________ in color.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. content — happy
  3. cap — of ice
  4. content — the amount
  5. cap — a lid
  6. band — a ring
  7. spell — magic
  8. kid — to tease
  9. spell — letters
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. mark — a grade
  15. shower — to wash
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. bay — a horse colour
  18. mark — a trace
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. spell — a short time
  22. kid — child
  23. shower — rain
  24. band — a music 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