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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. cap — a lid
  5. fine — high quality
  6. cap — of ice
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. current — electric
  9. cold — not warm
  10. scale — size or range
  11. fine — all right
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. chip — to eat
  14. current — of water
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. current — happening now
  18. fall — to drop
  19. cold — an illness
  20. chip — for betting
  21. fall — to drop
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. fall — the season
  24. scale — in music

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