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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. march — the month
  3. cap — a lid
  4. mine — for digging
  5. march — music
  6. rash — hasty
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. cell — in biology
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. net — after costs
  11. net — for catching
  12. drill — the tool
  13. drill — army training
  14. cell — a phone
  15. march — the month
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. cap — of ice
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. rash — a series
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — an injury
  23. net — in sport
  24. drill — a practice

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