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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. cap — a hat
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — to paddle
  5. degree — temperature
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. ground — the earth
  8. cap — a lid
  9. degree — from a university
  10. row — a line
  11. cap — of ice
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. degree — an amount
  14. saw — the tool
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. saw — the tool
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. ground — crushed
  22. kid — child
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. ground — a position

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