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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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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: swing · cap · land · file · root · vault · hand · cold

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. land — ground
  3. swing — in golf
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. hand — in cards
  8. root — of a word
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. cap — a lid
  11. swing — music
  12. file — a document
  13. land — to come down
  14. file — a tool
  15. land — a country
  16. file — a line of people
  17. cold — an illness
  18. hand — help
  19. cold — not warm
  20. root — of a plant
  21. root — the cause
  22. cap — of ice
  23. vault — a safe
  24. swing — to play on

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