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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. file — a tool
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. roll — a cake
  7. spring — of water
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — clever
  10. roll — a list
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. cap — a lid
  13. file — a document
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. file — a line of people
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. spring — a coil
  21. spring — the season
  22. cap — of ice
  23. pit — in a race
  24. pit — a hole

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