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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cold — an illness
  3. drill — army training
  4. cap — of ice
  5. drill — the tool
  6. file — a document
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. drill — a practice
  10. degree — temperature
  11. rest — a break
  12. cap — a lid
  13. cap — a hat
  14. cold — not warm
  15. fall — the season
  16. capital — a city
  17. file — a tool
  18. rest — what's left
  19. file — a line of people
  20. capital — money
  21. rest — what's left
  22. degree — an amount
  23. degree — from a university
  24. fall — to drop

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