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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 116 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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: land · wind · cap · race · season · hand

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. season — in sport
  3. cap — a hat
  4. season — of the year
  5. land — ground
  6. land — a country
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wind — moving air
  9. hand — help
  10. land — to come down
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — in cards
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. wind — moving air
  15. race — the arms race
  16. cap — a lid
  17. race — humankind
  18. race — a contest

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