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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  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. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. game — wild animals
  4. mark — a trace
  5. cap — a lid
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. wake — a trail
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. cold — an illness
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. date — the fruit
  14. net — after costs
  15. sharp — clever
  16. game — a match
  17. net — for catching
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. net — in sport
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. cold — not warm
  23. mark — a grade
  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