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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  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. file — a tool
  3. mine — for digging
  4. content — happy
  5. can — a tin
  6. can — to be able to
  7. cap — a lid
  8. face — part of the head
  9. can — a tin
  10. face — to confront
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. content — the amount
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — for sport
  16. face — to point toward
  17. field — a subject
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a document
  22. dip — to sink
  23. dip — to dunk
  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