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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. cap — a hat
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. cap — of ice
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. file — a document
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. cap — a lid
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. row — to paddle
  17. pitch — completely
  18. row — a line
  19. file — a line of people
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. file — a tool
  22. bat — the animal
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. sharp — clever

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