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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. spell — letters
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. cap — of ice
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. march — music
  8. cap — a hat
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. spell — a short time
  12. cap — a lid
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bat — the animal
  15. degree — from a university
  16. spell — magic
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. march — the month
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. degree — temperature
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. march — the month
  24. degree — an amount

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