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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cap — a lid
  3. face — to confront
  4. degree — an amount
  5. track — to keep track
  6. snap — to click
  7. craft — boats
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. degree — from a university
  10. cap — of ice
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. shower — rain
  14. craft — a skill
  15. track — a song
  16. face — part of the head
  17. face — to point toward
  18. shower — to wash
  19. track — a path
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. foot — a measure
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. degree — temperature

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