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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: cap · fall · dip · band · content · row · mine · degree

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cap — a hat
  3. dip — to sink
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. row — to paddle
  7. degree — temperature
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. cap — a lid
  10. content — happy
  11. row — a line
  12. band — a ring
  13. cap — of ice
  14. band — a music group
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. degree — from a university
  17. content — the amount
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fall — to drop
  20. fall — the season
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. mine — for digging
  23. degree — an amount
  24. mine — belonging to me

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