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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. march — music
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. content — the amount
  6. root — the cause
  7. degree — from a university
  8. cap — a lid
  9. degree — an amount
  10. cap — of ice
  11. degree — temperature
  12. kick — in football
  13. bass — the fish
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. root — of a word
  16. file — a document
  17. march — the month
  18. file — a tool
  19. march — the month
  20. bass — low music
  21. file — a line of people
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. root — of a plant
  24. content — happy

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