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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. cap — a hat
  4. season — in sport
  5. cap — a lid
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. branch — a division
  9. cap — of ice
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. stem — to come from
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. mine — for digging
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. dip — to sink
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. season — of the year
  20. cold — an illness
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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