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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. court — of law
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. stem — to come from
  7. clip — to cut
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. court — of a king
  10. pit — a hole
  11. game — a match
  12. cap — of ice
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cap — a lid
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cold — an illness
  19. clip — for paper
  20. court — for sport
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. pit — in a race
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. clip — a video

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