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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cap — a lid
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. kid — to tease
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. cold — an illness
  9. staff — a stick
  10. scale — in music
  11. shower — rain
  12. scale — size or range
  13. bear — the animal
  14. staff — employees
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. mine — for digging
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bear — the animal
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. kid — child
  21. shower — to wash
  22. staff — employees
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. cap — of ice

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