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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. pop — soda
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. band — a ring
  5. land — ground
  6. cap — a hat
  7. game — wild animals
  8. deal — to handle
  9. cold — an illness
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pop — to visit
  13. land — to come down
  14. chair — a leader
  15. pop — music
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. game — a match
  21. band — a music group
  22. cap — of ice
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. land — a country

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