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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. land — a country
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. cap — a lid
  5. last — final
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. last — finally
  9. ground — crushed
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. last — to go on
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. shower — rain
  14. drill — a practice
  15. kid — to tease
  16. drill — army training
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. ground — the earth
  20. cap — of ice
  21. shower — to wash
  22. kid — child
  23. drill — the tool
  24. ground — a position

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