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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 polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. When will it ________________ you to start?
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cap — of ice
  3. suit — to fit
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cap — a lid
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. clip — a video
  13. wound — an injury
  14. suit — clothes
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cold — an illness
  18. mine — for digging
  19. clip — to cut
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. suit — in cards
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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