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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: cold · kid · chest · roll · wake · cap · pop · foot

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. wake — a trail
  3. kid — to tease
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. cap — a lid
  6. roll — a list
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. pop — to visit
  10. cap — of ice
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. chest — of your body
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. foot — a measure
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. chest — a box
  20. pop — music
  21. pop — soda
  22. roll — a cake
  23. kid — child
  24. foot — the bottom

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