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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 116 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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. cap — of ice
  3. shower — rain
  4. ground — crushed
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pitch — completely
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. cold — not warm
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cap — a hat
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. saw — the tool
  15. ground — a position
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. shower — to wash
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. ground — the earth
  20. cap — a lid
  21. cell — in biology
  22. game — a match
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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