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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: cold · row · cap · mate · ball · dip · ground · wind

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. ball — a great time
  4. cap — of ice
  5. cold — not warm
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — to paddle
  8. ball — a dance
  9. ground — a position
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. ground — the earth
  14. mate — a friend
  15. mate — to breed
  16. dip — to sink
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. row — a line
  19. ground — crushed
  20. mate — a partner
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wind — moving air
  23. cap — a hat
  24. cap — a lid

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