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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 124 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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. ground — the earth
  3. wound — an injury
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. bear — the animal
  6. fall — to drop
  7. content — happy
  8. wound — an injury
  9. ground — crushed
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. mine — for digging
  13. clip — for paper
  14. cap — a lid
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. ground — a position
  17. bear — the animal
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. fall — to drop
  20. clip — to cut
  21. content — the amount
  22. fall — the season
  23. clip — a video
  24. cap — a hat

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