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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cap — a lid
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. plane — a tool
  9. scale — in music
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. bear — the animal
  12. rush — hurry
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. scale — size or range
  15. bear — the animal
  16. cap — of ice
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. mine — for digging
  24. rush — a thrill

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