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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: date · cell · cold · bulb · cap · jam · last · capital

  1. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. jam — in traffic
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. cap — of ice
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. last — final
  7. last — finally
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. capital — a city
  10. cap — a hat
  11. cell — in biology
  12. cold — not warm
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. date — the fruit
  16. last — to go on
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. bulb — for light
  20. cap — a lid
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. capital — money
  23. bulb — for light
  24. cell — a phone

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