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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  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. present — a gift
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pop — soda
  4. cap — a lid
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. pop — to visit
  7. row — a line
  8. present — the time now
  9. dip — to sink
  10. present — there
  11. cap — a hat
  12. pop — music
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. cap — of ice
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. kid — child
  19. kid — to tease
  20. row — to paddle
  21. cold — not warm
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. nail — for a hammer
  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