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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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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: cold · ball · pop · cell · race · cap

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cap — of ice
  3. pop — to visit
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. pop — soda
  6. ball — a dance
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pop — music
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. ball — a great time
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. race — a contest
  14. race — the arms race
  15. cell — in biology
  16. race — humankind
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cap — a lid

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