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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cold — an illness
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. field — farmland
  5. cold — not warm
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. cap — of ice
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. capital — money
  10. cap — a lid
  11. content — the amount
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. field — a subject
  19. capital — a city
  20. field — for sport
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. content — happy

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