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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.

Make a worksheet

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
468
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 · swing · cold · bat · cap · dip · spell · net

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. spell — magic
  3. cold — an illness
  4. swing — to play on
  5. net — after costs
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. clip — a video
  8. cap — of ice
  9. dip — to sink
  10. spell — a short time
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. swing — in golf
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. bat — the animal
  16. net — for catching
  17. clip — to cut
  18. cap — a lid
  19. spell — letters
  20. swing — music
  21. cold — not warm
  22. net — in sport
  23. clip — for paper
  24. cold — the Cold War

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