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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. capital — money
  3. face — to confront
  4. sharp — clever
  5. spring — of water
  6. band — a music group
  7. drill — army training
  8. present — the time now
  9. face — part of the head
  10. drill — a practice
  11. spring — the season
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. present — there
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. face — to point toward
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. present — a gift
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. spring — a coil
  21. band — a ring
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — a phone
  24. capital — a city

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