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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. prune — to trim
  5. bat — the animal
  6. cap — a lid
  7. kid — to tease
  8. dip — to sink
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cell — a phone
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. kid — child
  14. cap — a hat
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. band — a ring
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. prune — to trim
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. band — a music group
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. perch — the fish
  24. band — a rubber band

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