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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cap — a lid
  4. march — the month
  5. game — wild animals
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. mate — to breed
  13. bat — the animal
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. mate — a partner
  16. march — the month
  17. branch — a division
  18. game — a match
  19. march — music
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. mate — a friend
  24. cold — not warm

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