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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: cap · squash · mate · bay · chest · cold · pop · tear

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — from crying
  3. pop — soda
  4. mate — a partner
  5. tear — to rip
  6. pop — music
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. mate — to breed
  10. cap — a hat
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cap — of ice
  13. cap — a lid
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. pop — to visit
  16. squash — to crush
  17. squash — the sport
  18. cold — not warm
  19. chest — a box
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. mate — a friend
  23. bay — a horse colour
  24. chest — of your body

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