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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: cap · shower · cell · key · plane · squash · file · pop

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. pop — to visit
  3. key — the most important part
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. shower — to wash
  6. cap — of ice
  7. cap — a lid
  8. shower — rain
  9. plane — a tool
  10. file — a line of people
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. key — for a lock
  13. pop — soda
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. squash — the sport
  16. cell — a phone
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. key — in music
  19. file — a tool
  20. cell — in biology
  21. squash — to crush
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. file — a document
  24. pop — music

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