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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: nail · clip · cap · temple · row · chair · suit · cold

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. When will it ________________ you to start?
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. chair — a leader
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. cold — not warm
  7. suit — in cards
  8. row — to paddle
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. clip — to cut
  11. suit — clothes
  12. clip — a video
  13. cold — an illness
  14. row — a line
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cap — a lid
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cap — a hat
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. suit — to fit
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. nail — for a hammer

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