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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. cap — a lid
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cap — of ice
  5. drill — the tool
  6. cold — not warm
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. drill — a practice
  9. cap — a hat
  10. root — of a word
  11. shower — to wash
  12. club — a group
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. ground — a position
  15. ground — crushed
  16. shower — rain
  17. drill — army training
  18. root — the cause
  19. club — for dancing
  20. ground — the earth
  21. root — of a plant
  22. club — for golf
  23. cold — an illness
  24. band — a music group

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