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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. content — happy
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. cap — of ice
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. scale — size or range
  10. stand — to bear
  11. scale — in music
  12. last — final
  13. content — the amount
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — moving air
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. lean — to bend
  18. last — to go on
  19. lean — thin
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. cap — a lid
  23. fork — in a road
  24. last — finally

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