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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 polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. pit — a hole
  6. drill — a practice
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. branch — a division
  9. drill — the tool
  10. capital — money
  11. pit — in a race
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. drill — army training
  14. race — a contest
  15. race — the arms race
  16. snap — to click
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. capital — a city
  21. cold — not warm
  22. race — humankind
  23. cap — a hat
  24. cap — a lid

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