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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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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: arm · shower · cold · kid · spring · key · fine · cap

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. This piece is in a major ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. key — in music
  3. kid — to tease
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. fine — all right
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cap — a hat
  10. spring — of water
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. spring — a coil
  14. key — the most important part
  15. fine — high quality
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. key — for a lock
  18. kid — child
  19. shower — rain
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. spring — the season
  22. shower — to wash
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cap — a lid

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