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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. cap — of ice
  3. last — to go on
  4. ground — a position
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. last — finally
  7. last — final
  8. ground — crushed
  9. bat — the animal
  10. file — a tool
  11. court — of law
  12. court — of a king
  13. file — a line of people
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. cap — a lid
  16. spell — a short time
  17. file — a document
  18. ground — the earth
  19. spell — letters
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. court — for sport
  22. cap — a hat
  23. scale — size or range
  24. scale — in music

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