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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. hand — help
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. chair — a leader
  7. fine — high quality
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. cap — a lid
  10. bat — the animal
  11. field — for sport
  12. fine — all right
  13. hand — in cards
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. field — a subject
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. field — farmland
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. plane — a tool
  20. tube — a container
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. cap — of ice

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