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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 turn the ________________ on?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. last — final
  3. spell — magic
  4. last — to go on
  5. cap — a lid
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. date — the fruit
  8. charge — electricity
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cap — a hat
  11. charge — a price
  12. cold — not warm
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. spell — letters
  15. cap — of ice
  16. last — finally
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. charge — in control
  22. cell — in biology
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. spell — a short time

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