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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. band — a ring
  5. staff — employees
  6. cold — an illness
  7. staff — employees
  8. rule — a law
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. rule — government
  11. scale — in music
  12. cap — of ice
  13. cold — not warm
  14. scale — size or range
  15. band — a music group
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. cap — a lid
  20. staff — a stick
  21. dip — to sink
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. dip — a sauce

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