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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: spring · hide · file · bat · press · cap · field · game

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. cap — a lid
  5. spring — of water
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. press — to push
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. field — farmland
  11. bat — the animal
  12. file — a document
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. press — newspapers
  15. file — a line of people
  16. field — for sport
  17. cap — of ice
  18. press — a publisher
  19. spring — a coil
  20. game — a match
  21. spring — the season
  22. field — a subject
  23. game — wild animals
  24. file — a tool

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