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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: game · cap · nail · mate · net · cold · rash · clip

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cap — a hat
  4. mate — to breed
  5. game — wild animals
  6. clip — to cut
  7. net — after costs
  8. cap — of ice
  9. net — for catching
  10. game — a match
  11. cold — an illness
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. clip — for paper
  14. net — in sport
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. rash — hasty
  17. clip — a video
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. rash — a series
  20. cap — a lid
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. mate — a partner
  24. rash — on the skin

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