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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. cap — a lid
  3. cold — not warm
  4. hand — help
  5. tube — a container
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. mark — a trace
  8. hand — in cards
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. mark — a grade
  12. cold — an illness
  13. tube — the underground
  14. cap — of ice
  15. capital — money
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. capital — a city
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. cap — a hat
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. mark — to pay attention

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