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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. cap — a hat
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. degree — temperature
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — a coil
  7. cold — not warm
  8. file — a line of people
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. cap — a lid
  12. degree — from a university
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. file — a tool
  16. degree — an amount
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. cap — of ice
  19. file — a document
  20. wax — to grow
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. spring — of water

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