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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. pop — soda
  4. rule — a law
  5. wind — moving air
  6. mug — to rob
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cap — a hat
  9. pop — to visit
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. rule — government
  12. cap — a lid
  13. mug — a face
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. cold — not warm
  17. pop — music
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. wind — moving air
  21. mug — a cup
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. cold — an illness

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