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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 120 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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. last — finally
  3. ground — crushed
  4. cap — a lid
  5. ground — a position
  6. capital — a city
  7. bat — the animal
  8. ground — the earth
  9. spell — magic
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. last — final
  13. band — a music group
  14. band — a ring
  15. spell — a short time
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. cap — of ice
  19. spell — letters
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. squash — the sport
  22. squash — to crush
  23. capital — money
  24. last — to go on

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