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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. capital — money
  3. file — a tool
  4. cold — an illness
  5. face — part of the head
  6. bulb — for light
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. file — a document
  9. bulb — for light
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. face — to confront
  12. file — a line of people
  13. face — to point toward
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — not warm
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. bulb — of a plant

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