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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. swing — to play on
  3. spell — magic
  4. cap — a lid
  5. cap — a hat
  6. swing — in golf
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. march — the month
  10. rule — government
  11. march — music
  12. rule — a law
  13. spell — letters
  14. file — a document
  15. swing — music
  16. cap — of ice
  17. track — a song
  18. march — the month
  19. track — to keep track
  20. spell — a short time
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. file — a tool
  23. track — a path
  24. file — a line of people

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