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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 116 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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. My mare is ________________ in color.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cold — an illness
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. bay — a horse colour
  8. file — a tool
  9. file — a document
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. fork — in a road
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. cell — a phone
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cap — of ice
  24. file — a line of people

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