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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — in cards
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. cap — a hat
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cap — a lid
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. branch — a division
  10. mine — for digging
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. wake — a trail
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. vault — a safe

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