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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: last · current · present · cap · cold · file · row · chest

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. chest — of your body
  3. last — to go on
  4. present — a gift
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cap — a hat
  7. present — there
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cold — not warm
  10. file — a tool
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. current — happening now
  14. row — a line
  15. file — a line of people
  16. last — final
  17. last — finally
  18. cap — a lid
  19. current — of water
  20. current — electric
  21. file — a document
  22. present — the time now
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. chest — a box

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