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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. kid — child
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. file — a document
  5. cap — of ice
  6. file — a tool
  7. ground — a position
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. cap — a hat
  10. spell — magic
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. ground — crushed
  13. last — final
  14. last — to go on
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. last — finally
  18. file — a line of people
  19. spell — letters
  20. ground — the earth
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. spell — a short time
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. leaves — lets stay

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