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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: drill · chip · chair · cap · hide · wind · date · file

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. chip — for betting
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. drill — the tool
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. date — the fruit
  12. file — a document
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. chip — to eat
  17. chair — a leader
  18. drill — a practice
  19. cap — of ice
  20. drill — army training
  21. file — a line of people
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. cap — a lid
  24. file — a tool

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