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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cap — a lid
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. cap — a hat
  11. cap — of ice
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. cold — not warm
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. bulb — for light
  17. chest — a box
  18. plane — a tool
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bulb — for light
  22. degree — temperature
  23. degree — an amount
  24. degree — from a university

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