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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. cap — of ice
  3. cold — an illness
  4. rest — a break
  5. key — the most important part
  6. roll — a cake
  7. hand — in cards
  8. wind — moving air
  9. rest — what's left
  10. key — in music
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. wind — moving air
  13. season — in sport
  14. cap — a hat
  15. hand — help
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. season — of the year
  19. key — for a lock
  20. rest — what's left
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. roll — a list

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