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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. spell — magic
  5. spring — the season
  6. cap — of ice
  7. spring — a coil
  8. cold — not warm
  9. prune — to trim
  10. spell — letters
  11. spring — of water
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. prune — to trim
  14. branch — a division
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. fall — the season
  17. mark — a grade
  18. cap — a lid
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. fall — to drop
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. spell — a short time
  23. fall — to drop
  24. mark — a trace

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