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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: cap · cabinet · content · chest · drill · spring · tear · wind

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. cap — a hat
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cap — a lid
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. chest — a box
  7. chest — of your body
  8. drill — a practice
  9. tear — from crying
  10. wind — moving air
  11. chest — of your body
  12. spring — of water
  13. spring — a coil
  14. cap — of ice
  15. content — happy
  16. drill — army training
  17. content — the amount
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. drill — the tool
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. tear — to rip
  24. content — videos and posts

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