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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. cap — of ice
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. capital — money
  6. shower — rain
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. cap — a hat
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cap — a lid
  12. march — music
  13. march — the month
  14. bat — the animal
  15. sharp — clever
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. shower — to wash
  21. season — in sport
  22. march — the month
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. capital — a city

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