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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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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: capital · cold · hide · kid · bowl · cap

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. capital — a city
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. cold — an illness
  8. capital — money
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. kid — to tease
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. cap — a lid
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. cap — a hat
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kid — child
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. cap — of ice

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