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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. cap — of ice
  3. cap — a hat
  4. board — to get on
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. kid — to tease
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. shower — to wash
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. row — to paddle
  15. cap — a lid
  16. board — a committee
  17. row — a line
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. shower — rain
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. kid — child
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. nail — for a hammer

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