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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. rock — music
  3. cap — of ice
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. land — to come down
  6. bat — the animal
  7. craft — boats
  8. shower — to wash
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. land — a country
  12. wind — moving air
  13. shower — rain
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. cap — a hat
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. land — ground
  19. wind — moving air
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. craft — a skill
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. rock — a stone
  24. bat — for baseball

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