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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: calf · cap · snap · land · band · saw · bat · rule

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. cap — a hat
  3. bat — the animal
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. cap — a lid
  6. saw — the tool
  7. band — a music group
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. saw — the tool
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. cap — of ice
  15. snap — to click
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. band — a ring
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. land — a country
  21. rule — government
  22. land — to come down
  23. rule — a law
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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