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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. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. pitch — completely
  3. spring — of water
  4. cold — not warm
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. spring — the season
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. file — a line of people
  10. mug — to rob
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cap — a hat
  13. mug — a face
  14. cap — a lid
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. row — a line
  17. file — a document
  18. cap — of ice
  19. file — a tool
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. row — to paddle
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cold — an illness
  24. row — a quarrel

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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