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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: clip · court · ground · scale · cap · date · stem · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cap — a hat
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. date — the fruit
  6. court — for sport
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. clip — a video
  9. ground — a position
  10. clip — for paper
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. ground — crushed
  13. cap — of ice
  14. clip — to cut
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. scale — size or range
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. stem — to come from
  19. scale — in music
  20. court — of law
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. ground — the earth
  23. cap — a lid
  24. court — of a king

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